Ryan out for Rovers

In the week Scottish goalkeeper Dave McEwan signed for Derry City and then picked up an injury that will keep him sidelined for several weeks, Ian Ryan has suffered similar misfortune after moving from Shamrock Rovers to Longford Town on loan.

Longford Town manager Alan Mathews had hoped to include the defender in his squad for the game at Richmond Park tomorrow but, after picking up an ankle ligament injury in training earlier this week, the 20-year-old is likely to be out for a month.

"We're not exactly having much luck at the moment," says Mathews. "We're still without Kevin Doherty, Robbie Martin and Dessie Baker and we could have done with Ian going into the squad but as it is at least Jamie Duffy will be in a position to make his debut."

It is not clear how many of John McDonnell's new signing will feature despite most, the St Patrick's Athletic manager says, impressing him since arriving at the club.

"I thought they did well on Thursday against Spurs but it's a lot to ask of them, to play on the Thursday and then again on the Sunday, after not having played in a couple of months.

"Having said that we'll have another look at them in training tomorrow (Saturday) before making a decision on it because we'll definitely be looking to field our strongest side."

St Patrick's defender Colm Foley is definitely out as he has a knee injury which will see him sidelined for a month.

In this evening's game at the Showgrounds, Sligo Rovers manager Paul Cook is set to hand debuts to his two new signings, defender Daniel Ventre and midfielder Mark Boyd, for the meeting with Galway United.

Galway will be without David Cooke, Chris Armstrong, John Russell, Stephen O'Flynn or Liam McKenna for the game but newly-arrived centre forward Yeboah Mensah is added to the squad.

l The FAI have had their allocation of tickets for the European Championship qualifier in Slovakia on September 8th raised to 6,000, allowing them to accommodate all block bookers who applied for tickets.

There will not, however, be enough tickets for the association to put any on general sale.

Talks continue with the Czech Republic regarding the number of tickets available to away supporters for the game in Prague four days later but the figure stands at 3,500 and the best-case scenario appears to be the organisation will be able to meet the demand from block bookers.