SOCCER:DUNDALK came close to being the undoing of Shamrock Rovers in the league last season and Ian Foster will be happy to get a crack at repeating the 2-0 win his side secured over the eventual champions on the opening night 12 months ago.
Both squads are significantly changed for the new campaign and Dundalk might fancy their chances once again having already got a couple of competitive games under their belts in the Setanta Cup.
The visitors are at full strength too, while the champions are without Craig Sives (hamstring) as well as Ciarán Kilduff and Stephen O’Donnell (both suspended). The home support, though, will still get their best indication yet of what Michael O’Neill sees as his best line up in what promises to be an interesting opening challenge for Rovers.
Many people see Sligo Rovers as the most likely challengers to O’Neill’s men this year and all of Paul Cooke’s new signings are in contention, with the likes of Raffaele Cretaro, Jason McGuinness and Aaron Greene likely to feature in some way.
The hosts, meanwhile, get the chance to show whether their many young players are good enough to cut it on this stage, although James McClean and the more experienced Kevin Deery are both ruled out by injury this evening.
Bohemians will start with 19-year-old Craig Sexton in goal at Bray after Barry Murphy hurt his back in the Portadown match. Mark Rossiter and Christy Fagan both come into contention after missing that game but Robert Bayly, like manager Pat Fenlon, is suspended.
Bray, as they did for most of last season, have quite a few injury concerns, with Gary Shaw (ankle), Stephen Brennan (calf) and Derek Prendergast (hamstring) out but Joe Kendrick is in line to make his debut.
Elsewhere, St Patrick’s Athletic will be without Danny North, Stephen Bradley, Paul Crowley (all suspended) or Ian Bermingham (ill) for the trip to Galway, where newly-signed former under-21 Scottish international goalkeeper Greg Fleming comes into the home side’s squad.
And UCD include a fair sprinkling of former Drogheda players for the game at United Park, with Yael Haro, Dean Marshall and Darren Meenan all in contention to start against their former club. Mick Cooke, meanwhile, has re-signed Robert Duggan, Alan McNally and John Lester for the hosts.
Tonight’s fixtures
(7.45 unless stated).
2/1 Bray v Bohemians 13/10 (Draw, 11/5)
15/8 Derry v Sligo Rovers 11/8 (Draw, 11/5)
100/30 Drogheda Utd v UCD 5/6 (Draw, 9/4)
7/2 Galway v St Pat’s Ath 8/11 (Draw, 5/2)
7/10 Shamrock Rovers v Dundalk 4/1 (Draw, 12/5) – live on RTÉ Two, 7.35pm)
– Emmet Malone
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