SOCCER:HAVING MISSED the game against Manchester United last month due to his club's Europa League clash with Juventus, Shamrock Rovers' Billy Dennehy looked just a little wide-eyed as he sat back deep in the bowels of the Aviva Stadium this week and contemplated getting to play there sometime soon.
This year’s Ford-sponsored FAI Cup final will, of course, be staged at the redeveloped Lansdowne Road after spending the last few years at the RDS and Tallaght and the Rovers winger would quite like to be back there that day. Beyond that, though, the 23-year-old is determined to build on the form that has marked him out as a star performer for the league leaders this season and follow the likes of Kevin Doyle and Keith Fahey from the League of Ireland to the national team.
“Well, like any player really, just to play at the highest level is the ambition but coming here today and seeing the Aviva has made me want to play for Ireland even more. It’s an unbelievable set-up. I’m sure every player would love to be involved in games here.”
It was the first time he had seen the place up close and the sight of it as he arrived in his car took him a little by surprise. “I couldn’t believe it,” he says. “Didn’t think it would be so big, I really didn’t.”
That is pretty much what quite a few Rovers fans must have said when they saw the margin of Dundalk’s victory, 5-1, over Rovers on Monday night at Oriel Park. Dennehy, though, is unfazed by the setback, insisting good players just get on with it, and Rovers, he insists, have plenty of those.
“Look,” he says reflectively, “we weren’t great on the night, everybody knows that, but at the same time we don’t want to overreact.
“When you look back, we’ve had good performances as a squad, the performances in Europe, we beat Bohemians, we’ve beaten a lot of good teams . . . you lose one game, it’s not a crisis, you refocus and accept the fact everyone has a bad day at the office then look to bounce back, hopefully that’s what we’ll do now.”
On paper, at least, Galway United at home in the cup this evening would appear to offer a decent chance to do just that. Heading into the game, the club remain on course for a double and two years after returning from Sunderland, initially for Derry, then Cork and now Rovers, Dennehy, like his employers, is well on the way to getting back to where he wants to be thanks to a series of strong showings in all competitions this year.
Galway manager Seán Connor, needless to say, is confident his side can beat anyone on their day. However, they have lost important players over the last few months due to financial problems and while their manager insists he is satisfied with the way things have gone, he concedes he’d “prefer to have Rovers’ money and the pressure that goes with it to win the league”, than a lack of it and the consequent fight just to stay in the top flight.
Galway are without the suspended and injured Ciarán Foley.
Across in Dalymount, Bray Wanderers will be looking to build on their recent improvement and end what has generally been a bad run of results against Bohemians down the years. “Well,” laughs manager Pat Devlin when statistics are put to him, “it has to be our turn some time and we’ll certainly look to make it difficult for them this time, although they’re the favourites.”
Jake Kelly is a major doubt with a hamstring but Shane O’Neill is back along with a collective sense of purpose at the club. “We were probably carrying one or two players for a while, sometimes three or four, but that’s changed and everybody has helped to make the difference behind the scenes. The challenge is to keep it up.”
Bohemians expect to have everyone bar long-term absentees Steven Gray and Anto Murphy (both Achilles) available.
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