LEAGUE OF IRELAND PREMIER DIVISION:HAVING BAGGED a place in a cup final over the weekend, St Patrick's Athletic return to league action this evening at the Carlisle Grounds where the aim will be to go back to the top of the table, something that will require them to inflict a little more misery on a club that quite a few of tonight's visitors have lined out for at some stage or other.
Gary Rogers, Paul Byrne and Dave Mulcahy are amongst those to have had spells at Bray Wanderers but none is likely to be feeling overly charitable this evening as Pete Mahon’s men look to maintain the sort of form shown in the past week’s two impressive wins over Sligo Rovers.
The Dubliners have been strong in just about every department over the opening weeks of the season but it was a series of clean sheets that laid the foundation for their successful assault on top spot in the Premier League over the opening rounds of games.
The team’s efforts at the back have also won individual praise for several of the team’s outstanding players and yesterday Conor Kenna received some recognition for his efforts to date when he was named as the Airtricity/SWAI Player of the Month for March.
“You could have picked any of the back five out for this, to be honest,” he says, “but I’m chuffed to get it myself and it’s a great honour. It (the club’s defensive record during the season’s first month) shows how hard the lads have been working.
“We got a bit of luck along the way but the attitude was there and the defence did very well.”
Kenna’s form is all the more remarkable given that he was very much a last-minute arrival at Richmond Park having previously turned down an approach from Mahon in order to spend the season at Drogheda United.
Budget cuts on the eve of the new season’s kick-off changed things for the former UCD centre back and he belatedly took up the offer from the Inchicore club.
“My mother always says to me that things happen for a reason and I’m delighted for the chance. To win a trophy now is the main aim,” he says. “We’re in the Setanta final – so there’s our first chance at it. We’ll try finish as high up the league as we can, too, and see what happens.
“To go down to Sligo and win was great as a lot of teams will find it hard to do that. It was a great result from our point of view. Bray will be tough, though. They had a good win away at Drogheda in the League Cup. They will be high in confidence so it will be a tough place to go for us.”
Wanderers, who were handed back their place in the top flight at the last minute, have struggled to date but Eddie Gormley will be hoping that the defeat of Drogheda will help generate a bit of confidence ahead of tonight’s encounter.
The hosts will be the helped by the fact that Jake Kelly, Shane O’Neill, James Kavanagh and Colm Tresson will all be fit again after missing the League Cup game through injury while Mahon will have Brian Cash, who was cup-tied for the Sligo games, and Ian Bermingham available although Stuart Byrne is an injury doubt.
Sligo, meanwhile, have confirmed that all of the outstanding issues relating to Joseph Ndo’s registration have been sorted out and that the former Cameroon international is now virtually certain to feature in the squad for Friday night’s game against St Patrick’s Athletic.
EA SPORTS CUP– Second round fixtures (7.45 unless stated): Monday, May 10th: St Patrick's Ath v Bray Wanderers (Richmond Park); Dundalk v Sporting Fingal (Oriel Park); UCD v Shamrock Rovers (UCD Bowl); Derry City v Finn Harps (Brandywell). Tuesday, May 11th: Bohemians v Monaghan Utd (Gortakeegan, 8.0); Cork City Foras Co-op v Limerick (Turner's Cross); Waterford Utd v Tralee Dynamos (RSC); Sligo Rovers v Letterkenny Rovers (Showgrounds).
