Top flight sides aiming to justify status FAI Cup second round

Their record number of wins would probably suggest that a trip to Shamrock Rovers is as good, or bad, as it gets for a non-league side in the FAI Cup, but the bookies have St Peter's of Athlone as facing into an even tougher task in Turner's Cross tonight than Midleton do in Tallaght.

Club secretary Rory Hogan describes the build up as "like the night before Christmas," although manager Philip Coffey, Tony Cousins' assistant at Longford Town until last summer, insists he is at least trying to view it as "just the next game" of a campaign that has already yielded a good Junior Cup run and now looks certain to deliver the club's first Combined Counties League title in a decade or so.

“It’s a massive occasion for the club,” he says, “but we won last night to go five clear at the top of the league and so there’s no pressure on us.”

The Junior Cup run took its toll, reckons Coffey, with games in Kildare, Kilkenny, Limerick, Cork, Mayo and Dublin before they lost in Tullmore, something that has made for tired legs and a couple of important injuries among his players.

For the handful who have played at Turner’s Cross before, though, such as former Athlone Town players Niall Scullion, Neil Harney and Noel Magee, this will be another chance to show what they are made of.

The hope might be that John Caulfield might underestimate them, but given his Munster Senior League experience that seems unlikely.

Meanwhile, already 10 points adrift of Dundalk in the league, Rovers will embark on their latest attempt to win the cup for a 25th time against Midleton, although Pat Fenlon will be without Luke Byrne, Dave Webster, Gavin Brennan and Trevor Clarke all of whom are laid up through injury, while Mikey Drennan has been given some time off to deal with depression.

Top-flight clash

In the other game tonight involving a clash between top flight and non-league sides, Wexford Youth are again missing Danny Furlong and Aidan Keenan but the venue switch will not have done much for Firhouse Clover’s chances of staging an upset.

The round’s only all Premier Division tie takes place at Dalymount, meanwhile, with Bohemians anxious, no doubt, to clear their heads and embrace the opportunity to take a break from a campaign that has yielded just one point from their last seven outings.

The Dublin club gave a decent performance in Sligo that yielded nothing, since when Anto Murphy has departed the club and Ayman Ben Mohamed has been called up by Tunisia for their next African Cup of Nations game.