Soccer

Dundalk aiming to deny Shamrock Rovers the double

Premier Division champions should have Aaron Greene and Roberto Lopes fit

Dundalk’s Andy Boyle and Lee Grace of Shamrock Rovers contest a ball in the air during the Premier Division clash between the two teams in September. Photo: Bryan Keane/Inpho

Emmet Malone's face
Emmet Malone
Sun Dec 6 2020 - 05:00

FAI Cup final: Shamrock Rovers v Dundalk

Kick-off: 6.40pm, Sunday. Venue: Aviva Stadium. On TV: Live on RTÉ2.

As they target a first league and FAI Cup double in 33 years, Shamrock Rovers should have Aaron Greene and Roberto Lopes available for Sunday’s FAI Cup final which will be played at a near-empty Aviva Stadium. Neil Farrugia and Greg Bolger are unlikely to start after having just returned from injuries while Rory Gaffney and Gary O’Neill are ruled out.

Daniel Kelly is Dundalk’s only doubt after a tough night in Norway on Thursday but the 24-year-old is expected to be available despite the eye injury that contributed to him being replaced 17 minutes from time.

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More significant, perhaps, is the fact that Chris Shields and Pat McEleney, both of whom had to sit out last year’s final between the same two sides, will be available this time when they are expected to play fairly central roles.

“This has been a fixture that I pinpointed in my brain from that day last year,” says Shields. “I wanted to get back to the final and put things right and thankfully I have the chance to do that. To be in six finals on the bounce is an impressive achievement by this group of players. For myself and Patrick McEleney, though, it was tough watching from the stands last year and we’re really, really looking forward to this year.

“We’re a group of players who have been successful through our own hard work. But this year we have been criticised as players and as a club and it probably generated more negative press than positive. For us that’s a huge incentive. As well, we don’t want Shamrock Rovers winning the double against us. We’ve been in that situation before where Cork City did it and it wasn’t a nice feeling. We don’t want to experience that again.”

Shane Keegan said after the defeat to Molde that they could not expect to win if they defended crosses and set pieces the way they did there but desire, he said, had been an issue and Dundalk will be desperate not to end what has been an eventful season empty-handed.

In terms of the contest, anything approaching the quality of the league game at Tallaght in February would do the rest of us rather nicely.