As Bray Wanderers confirmed the departure of manager Mick Cooke – chairman Denis O'Connor said Harry Kenny will be in charge for at least two games – Wexford Youths have the opportunity to put a bit of daylight between themselves and the foot of the table as they welcome Galway United to Ferrycarrig Park on Friday night.
The hosts have endured a tough week and they will be without suspended striker Danny Furlong.
Confident mood
United travel without Jesse Devers, Armin Aganovic and Kevin Deveney but Tommy Dunne’s men will be in confident mood after an impressive start to the season that has earned them a place amongst the leading pack.
At the top of it sit Dundalk, who have confirmed that Ciaran Kilduff will be out for "several months" after fracturing vertebrae against St Patrick's Athletic. The O'Connor brothers, Ciaran and Michael, both also miss the trip to Tallaght for Friday evening's televised game against Shamrock Rovers while Pat McEleney and Paddy Barrett are rated as doubts with groin and shoulder problems respectively.
Rovers have David O'Connor out injured for the game but Luke Byrne should be available after having come through the bulk of this week's League Cup game without any problems. Pat Fenlon's men go into the game with wind in their sails following last weekend's hammering of cross-city rivals, Bohemians, but it is 2013 since they beat Dundalk in the league at home.
Cork City manager John Caulfield, acknowledges, is rather more urgent need of a win after squandering a fair bit of their wriggle room by settling for draws in a few games recently that really they will feel they should have won.
John Kavanagh misses out again as Finn Harps come to Turner’s Cross while Mark O’Sullivan, Michael McSweeney and John Dunleavy are all doubts for the game. Harps have plenty of problems to contend with. Michael Rafter, Barry Molloy and Josh Mailey are again amongst those likely to sit the game out.
‘Restore some pride’
The night’s other top-flight game is at the Brandywell where the task for Bohemians, says manager Keith Long, is to “restore some pride” after last weekend’s 4-0 defeat.
Like Rovers, Bohemians have been fined for the crowd trouble during that game. They travel for this one with concerns over Dylan Hayes, Ayman Ben Mohamed and Derek Pender due to a bout of flu in the squad.
Derry City are without Aaron Barry while Josh Daniels is in contention again after coming on this week in the League Cup.
