SOCCER:AFTER THE surprise defeat by Bray Wanderers a couple of weeks ago and the hard-fought draw in Dalymount last week, Shamrock Rovers must really get back to winning ways in the league against UCD this evening if they are continuing to lead the title race from the front. Having seen his side beat Sligo in the Setanta Cup earlier this week, however, Michael O'Neill's confidence that they can take all three points will be further boosted by the return of Gary Twigg and Chris Turner.
O’Neill emphasised the need to maintain the momentum established over the first few weeks of the campaign and the visit of a UCD team that hasn’t won since the opening night of the campaign in Drogheda, would look like a decent opportunity for the champions to get things moving again.
Craig Sives and Stephen O’Donnell are still sidelined by injury while Gary McCabe is suspended in the wake of his sending off against Bohemians but O’Neill has strong options and is likely to make changes to the side that made sure of Rovers’ place in the first cup final of the season.
UCD will be boosted by Graham Rusk’s late equaliser at Richmond Park last time out and Seán Harding is fit enough again to be in contention but Cillian Morrison’s hopes of returning from an ankle injury suffered a setback this week and so he misses out again.
Bohemians travel to the Showgrounds for the night’s televised game where, suggests manager Pat Fenlon, his players will be taking on a team that is “probably a better footballing side than (Shamrock) Rovers”.
The Dubliner plays down the significance of Sligo’s cup defeat by the champions pointing to the changes made by Paul Cook to his starting line-up while the Sligo manager also insists “the league is our priority by a country mile”.
A win could put the hosts top if results elsewhere went their way but Rovers will be without Matthew Blinkhorn again due to a back problem that has been troubling the striker for a few weeks while Raffaele Cretaro is a doubt due to illness but John Russell returns from suspension.
The visitors still have Glenn Cronin and Barry Murphy out but Christy Fagan and Ollie Cahill are coming back into contention to feature after hamstring injuries.
Derry City are the other club sharing top spot with the defending champions on 14 points and they’ll look to continue what is turning into a decent unbeaten run against St Patrick’s Athletic at the Brandywell tonight. Conor Kenna is still out for the visitors and Pete Mahon admits that in the skipper’s absence he has not yet hit upon the ideal combination in central defence. He’s not helped this evening by the absence of Dave Mulcahy, who can slot in there, or Anto Murphy, with the pair ruled out by hamstring and ankle injuries respectively.
Derry still have Barry Molloy and Ruarí Harkin laid up while Bray will again be missing Gary Shaw and Stephen Brennan for the visit of Galway United. The hosts have made a remarkably strong start to the new campaign and will be looking for their fifth win in eight games. Galway hope to have Steve Feeney back but Gary Curran, Alan Murphy Joseph Yoffe, as well as the suspended Shaun Maher, will all be missing.
Drogheda United manager Mick Cook, meanwhile, gets a first taste of a Louth derby at United Park this evening and his side will be boosted by the return to the starting line-up of Alan McNally who appears to have come through last week’s 45 minutes against Bray without any problems. Drogheda will be looking for their first league win of the season against a Dundalk side that eased past Cliftonville and into the Setanta cup final earlier this week.
