SOCCER:THE CONSTANT tinkering may have failed to fully engage the Northern clubs in quite the way that had been hoped but the ease with which the leading Irish League sides were eliminated won't stop supporters of the Setanta Sports Cup winners at Tallaght this evening from bragging about their team being the champions of Ireland.
Dundalk, as it happens, bear rather more responsibility than the organisers for the lack of Northern interest this weekend. Ian Foster’s men not only put Linfield, Glentoran and Cliftonville out but won in Belfast in every round. That, the Oriel Park outfit might argue, is decent enough preparation for another crack at Shamrock Rovers down at their place.
As Rovers’ Dan Murray reflected on what will be his third Setanta final yesterday, he acknowledged Dundalk’s particular path to the final had added to the competition this year.
“I think the fact they beat those teams, given where they are in the country, has added something extra,” said the former Cork City defender who was attending the launch of Rovers’ latest commercial venture, a club-endorsed pre-paid Mastercard, aimed at young people looking to buy online or anyone determined enough to avoid budget airlines payment charges.
“Dundalk are a good side, the games between us this year have been very tight and I’d say this will be the same. Obviously they’ve got four very good attacking players (Mark Quigley, Daniel Kearns, Jason Byrne and Ross Gaynor). Every club has someone you have to worry about, it just happens that they have a few but we’re confident going into it, it’s a cup final and we only play them to win.”
Rovers manager Michael O’Neill has the option of bringing in Chris Turner, Gary Twigg and Craig Sives but after lengthy lay-offs, it’s far from certain he will start with any of them.
Twigg is the most obvious candidate of the three for an immediate return and the manager said in the wake of Wednesday’s A Championship game that the striker had done enough to prove his fitness.
Whether he will drop Gary O’Neill or perhaps change his formation to accommodate the two of them up front remains to be seen, however, and it could be he opts to stick with much the same side that has been doing fairly well in recent weeks – notwithstanding their relatively modest return up front – with the Scot held in reserve at the outset.
A safer bet is Ken Oman who is returning from suspension.
“I don’t have a clue what they’ll do, to be honest,” says Dundalk manager Foster whose only absentees are injured pair Eoghan Osbourne and Stephen Maher. “But in a way it doesn’t really matter. They’re strong in every department; if Twigg doesn’t start then they’ve got the likes of Gary O’Neill, Karl Sheppard and Ronan Finn as well as one hell of a player sitting on the bench, ready to come on in the second half.”
Foster has a few options of his own with the likes of young defender Michael Hector and Keith Ward possibly set to miss out despite having made strong cases for a place in the starting line up in recent weeks.
Either could still make the cut and at least one almost certainly will if Stephen McDonnell, who has been struggling with a knee injury in recent weeks, doesn’t get the nod. Clearly, though, there is not quite the depth there that the “home” side possess, something that will be underlined by the quality on the respective benches this evening.
“That’s why they’re the league champions but it certainly doesn’t mean they’re unbeatable,” says Foster. “We know what have to do. Doing it might be another thing but if we do what we should then we’ll certainly be in with a shout.”
TEAMS (POSSIBLE)
SHAMROCK ROVERS: Mannus; Sullivan, Murray, Oman, Stevens; Rice, McCormack; Sheppard, Finn, McCabe; O’Neill.
DUNDALK: Cherrie; Madden, Hawkins, Guthrie, Murphy; Bolger, McDonnell; Kearns, Quigley, Gaynor; Byrne.
Referee: A Kelly (Cork)
