Tallaght Stadium dey set for second round of Battle of the Rovers as Sligo Rovers head to capital to take on Shamrock Rovers for one of two late kick-offs this evening.
John Russell side dey go Dublin dey look for first win in five matches, and dem go face big challenge against Hoops wey don only drop points for home ground once this year.
Stephen Bradley boys bin win when dem first meet for Showgrounds back in March.
Sligo go up N4 on Friday without full squad. As of Thursday morning, Seb Quirk, Conor Reynolds and Jad Hakiki no don recover from knocks.
Archie Meekison go miss out after dem withdraw am against Galway. Winger Ryan O’Kane return to action for dat defeat to Galway last weekend and expected to be part of match-day squad again on Friday.
“We all know the performance against Galway just wasn’t good enough,” Sligo boss John Russell tok. “The dressing room was really hurt after it. We gift-wrapped the goals and our levels were nowhere near where they should have been. To lose to a local rival in that manner really stung but we’ve moved on.”
“We’re heading to Tallaght Friday and at the moment, there’s no harder place to go. But it’s also a great opportunity for us to make up, in some way, for what happened last weekend. To show what we can do.”
“It will be a huge test for us. They have the strongest squad in the league, some of the best young talent and some proven winners. So what better test for us? We’re looking forward to getting out there.”
“We won’t be going there as favourites, but it was the same at the end of last season. Circumstances are of course different this time around but I don’t think many outside of Sligo would have backed us to beat them on the last day of last season and we did.”
“There was big pressure on the game and we came through it. We’ll see what happens this time around.”
Shamrock Rovers go down to Tyreke Wilson screamer at Oriel Park last week. For their third loss of the season, Rovers boss Stephen Bradley comment: “A lot of it was good. Dundalk played how we felt they would. We created the opportunities we felt we would, we just didn’t take them. On another evening we win the game quite comfortably.”
“Dundalk had one chance in the second half and they took it. But it was just one of those nights that we just couldn’t take our opportunities, but in terms of the vast majority of what we did, that was good and sometimes you just have to take it.”
As earlier reported, Pico Lopes no go return to club action after him withdrawal a few weeks ago against Waterford, before him join up with Cape Verde for World Cup duty.
“Pico is the type who wants to play every minute he’s available,” Bradley tok. “He’s been back running this week and the injury wasn’t bad, but we have to look at the bigger picture here, as a staff and a club.”
“Personally, I couldn’t live with myself if we asked Pico to play tomorrow and he had a reoccurrence of that injury, which kept him out of something he will never have the opportunity to do again; something he can talk about with his children and grandchildren in the future.”
“For me, that’s special. We’re in sport and life in general to make memories and at the end of the day, that’s all we have. So I couldn’t live with myself if I was the one to take that away from him. So Pico definitely won’t be involved against Sligo tomorrow.”
“It will be difficult. If you watch Sligo’s games, the majority of them, they’re in them. I know last Friday against Galway, it’s a derby and that can happen (losing 4-1) and things can get away from you quickly.”
“We need to make sure we’re focussed, we know there’s a lot of talk with Pico going away and the lads called up for Ireland, we understand all that. So we need to focus on what’s in front of us, that’s the game and if we don’t respect in every way what Sligo are about, you’ll get beaten.”
“We know that’s this league. We need to be ready and sometimes that’s not even enough, we saw that last Friday. A lot of that was good but sometimes that’s not enough to win games in this league. So we need to be right on it tomorrow.”
Danny Grant dey in contention for some involvement at the Showgrounds after coming back from injury. Cory O’Sullivan also dey in the running for a place in the match-day squad although this game don come too soon for Rory Gaffney.
Second-placed St Patrick’s Athletic go look to put their home defeat against Shelbourne behind them when dem travel north to take on Derry City.
A loan Daniel Kelly strike bin enough to take the points for Shels on that occasion with the Candystripes needing a 90th-minute Henry Rylah goal to rescue a 2-2 in Waterford on the same night.
Shelbourne dey for early stages of a resurgence of sorts with that win at Richmond Park making am six points in two games for Joey O’Brien side. Dem host Waterford at Tolka Park – with Graham Coughlan visitors promising to leave nothing east behind dem for Dublin northside.
Dundalk travel to Sullivan and Lambe Park on Friday night for the second Louth Derby of the season against Drogheda United. Dundalk travel off the back of a superb 1-0 win over Shamrock Rovers last Friday night.
Drogheda United suffer a controversial last minute 2-1 defeat to Waterford FC at the RSC on Monday night.
Dundalk boss Ciaran Kilduf had this to say about the trip to Drogheda: “The win over Shamrock Rovers was very positive for us. But football moves on quickly. A result like that can sharpen the minds and refocus you straight away, because a win over Rovers would be quickly forgotten if we were to lose the next game.”
“That is the nature of this league. It is big game after big game, with big occasions, big nights and a big spotlight on performances. When you have a positive night like we did last week, there is an addictive side to it. You want to go again.”
TV cameras go dey town for a derby duel wey frequently dey throw up talking points. Coming off their eye-catching win over the league champions, the Lilywhites dey look to capitalise.
“Thankfully, we have another brilliant stage this Friday against Drogheda United,” Kilduf tok. “It will be live on television, in a hostile atmosphere, but we will bring our huge support as we always do. It feels like a very positive couple of weeks for us, but we know the size of the task ahead.”
“There is very little between the two clubs right now. That probably adds to the appetite for the game. Sometimes in this fixture, one team has been more dominant than the other, but this feels like two teams in a similar position in the league, with a similar points tally, both trying to find their way back up to the heights of old.”
“We are desperate to win. We are desperate to keep our return to the Premier Division as positive as it has been. This game comes close to the halfway point of the season, so it will be a good indicator of where both teams may go from here. I know Drogheda will be desperate to win it, but I can tell you we definitely are as well.”
For Dundalk, JR Wilson dey suspended and dem still dey without the services of Ronan Teahan, Mayowa Animasahun, Vinnie Leonard, Conor O’Keefe, Norman Garbett and Conor Kearns.
Bohemians don hold Dawson Devoy back from international duty as dem look to close the gap on the top two – starting with tonight trip to Galway United.
Do you have a news tip for NNN? Please email us at editor @ nnn.ng
