Paul Corry: St Pat's back four a 'concern' as Shamrock Rovers clash looms on Friday

After an excellent season opener on a potentially tricky night at Tolka Park, last season's SSE Airtricity League runners-up and FAI Cup champions St Patrick's Athletic have suffered two defeats on the trot.

And up next for Tim Clancy's side is 2021 league winners Shamrock Rovers at Richmond Park which will be a tough test as they look to bounce back from losses to Sligo Rovers and Bohemians.

After the latter 1-0 defeat to Bohs on Monday, Clancy pointed to straight balls down the middle proving costly in both losses.

Speaking on the RTÉ Soccer Podcast, former UCD and Shamrock Rovers player Paul Corry put the spotlight on those defensive issues as a new-look back four tries to shore up.

"The concern I would have about Pat's, and Tim kind of touched on it in his post-match interview, is just the back four," he said.

"I thought it was a really sloppy goal to concede (against Bohemians). (Jack) Scott really needs to address the ball, he lets it hop once or twice and Stephen Mallon takes advantage of it.

You can hear Tim Clancy's post-match views and watch Paul Corry and Lisa Fallon's analysis below:

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"And what you can't have - particularly the way Pat's play - is to try to be really progressive and create chances and then get done by one long ball.

"It kills all momentum and it kills all confidence you have from building up play when you know you could potentially be coughing up chances.

"Paddy Barrett is due to come back into that back four and he will be pivotal to that given the fact they've