SSE Airtricity League Premier Division
All games 7.45pm
Limerick v Shamrock Rovers (Live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player)
Limerick could be relegated this evening as Shamrock Rovers visit the Market's Field in a match that will have a massive bearing at the SSE Airtricity Premier Division.
Martin Russell's side will go down if they lose to Rovers and Sligo Rovers and Drogheda United pick up wins in their respective matches.
However, a positive result for Limerick could see them move off the bottom of the table.
Shamrock Rovers play their penultimate game of the league season, looking to keep up the battle for second place.
The only doubtful player in the Hoops squad is Maxime Blanchard who is recovering from the broken nose he suffered in last Saturday's game at Bray. Luke Byrne is back and fully fit.
The match is live on RTÉ2 with coverage starting at 7.30pm.
St Patrick's Athletic v Sligo Rovers
Sligo are only outside the relegation play-off place on goal difference ahead of the trip to Inchicore and will have to deal with a glut of injury problems for this game along with the suspension of Tim Clancy.
Along with John Russell and Jeff Henderson remaining unavailable, Jason Hughes has also been ruled out of this trip.
There are also doubts over Alan Keane, who hasn’t been able to train all week, Regan Donelon with a dislocated shoulder and Richard Brush, who suffered a concussion in training on Thursday.
Manager Micky Adams is going into the game with a positive mindset despite a disappointing 2-0 home defeat to Bohemians last week.
“Of course they players need a bit of a lift after losing last week," he said. "Football is an emotive sport and there will always be ups and downs. But what you have to do is respond and you do that by putting in the work at training during the week. And I have been pleased with what has been a good week for us on the training pitch, apart from the injuries. They have been disruptive but that is not an excuse, it’s just a fact. But we are ready for the game tomorrow.
“We won’t be looking at other results. You can’t get too caught up in the ifs, buts and maybes. We just need to concentrate on ourselves and what is a very, very good team that we are up against tomorrow. We can’t be thinking about how others do, we must just concentrate on our own game.”
“Pat’s are one of the top four teams in the country and we know how difficult and game this is going to be. They have got some very, very good players at this level. I think they should have enough to make Europe but they probably think differently so they will be playing hard to try and secure that.”
The Saints will be aiming to make it three wins out of three against Sligo in the league this season but Liam Buckley is expecting a stiffer challenge tonight.
“Sligo will be tough opponents on Friday," he said. "They always come to Inchicore and have a go to try and win the game. That being the case, we’re expecting a challenge from them. Both teams have to go out and win the game for their respective goals in the season.”
Saints will assess the fitness of Jason McGuinness (knee) and Greg Bolger (hamstring) as they recover from injuries, while Brendan Clarke misses out with a broken finger. Buckley can call upon the services of skipper Ger O’Brien, however, after he returned to training.
Cork City v Dundalk
Cork City boss John Caulfield is facing something of an injury crisis as his side welcome Dundalk to Turner’s Cross tomorrow night, with a number of Under-19 players set to feature in his squad.
Dan Murray is available again after serving a one-match suspension against St. Pat’s, but John Kavanagh, Danny Morrissey, Gavan Holohan, Colin Healy, Liam Miller, Garry Buckley and Alan Bennett are all set to miss out. Caulfield also has doubts over the availability of Billy Dennehy, Mark McNulty and Mark O’Sullivan.
The City manager has called Chiedozie Ogbene, Craig Donnellan, Cian Coleman, Connor Ellis and Conor McCarthy into the squad, while Alan Smith is on standby to replace McNulty between the posts, with Kevin O’Brien set to come in as cover.
Last week, a much-changed Dundalk side was held to a goalless draw by Galway United at Oriel Park.
That result, combined with the weekend’s fixtures, meant that the champions are 11 points clear of opponents Cork City with Shamrock Rovers 15 points adrift in third spot and St Patrick’s Athletic fourth and 19 points behind.
Cork beat St Pat's 2-1 on Monday to strengthen their grip on second.
The most recent meeting of the sides ended in a 1-1 draw in July at Oriel Park. Dundalk were 2-1 victors thanks to a Richie Towell brace at Turner’s Cross back in April.
Dundalk will be without the suspended Darren Meenan, who has accumulated five yellow cards, while Brian Gartland may return having missed the last month with a quad injury and Towell is in contention having missed last weekend’s scoreless draw with Galway United following a bout of pleurisy.
Speaking to dundalkfc.com ahead of the trip south, attacker Sean Maguire said: “It was a frustrating game for us against Galway last week. They really made it difficult for us. We had more possession of the ball but they created more chances than us, they had clear cut chances.
"We hit the post twice but it was just one of those nights. It was disappointing because we wanted to win the game, we didn’t create as much as we wanted but Galway deserved their point.
“I hope I can make an impact between now and the end of the season. It has been hard for me to get into the team because the boys have been doing so well. We have a tough game in Cork. We have them in the FAI Cup final too so we are expecting a tough game. We’ll go there trying to win and hopefully I can play a part and make a contribution.”
Derry City v Bohemians
Bohemians go to the Brandywell hoping to close the five-point gap to St Pat's in fourth and the “outside chance” of qualifying for Europe is helping to drive them on, according to manager Keith Long.
But he gives “huge credit” to the players and compliments “good characters” in the dressing room for maintaining a strong team spirit right to the end of the season.
“We have tried to create an environment where there are no excuses and the players have bought into that,” said Long.
“They take ownership of their performances and of their training. It comes down to their application and attitude. Our job is to make them believe they can achieve, and we have done that for most of the season.”
“We’re going into the game against Derry with an outside chance of getting into Europe, and most fair-minded people would have accepted that [for Bohemians] at the start of the season. Still, doing OK is not good enough for a club like Bohemians and we want to continue to improve.“
Derry are just one place, but 15 points, behind Bohemians in the league table. They have strengthened their side since the summer and are on a good run.
“Anyone who thinks we are going up to Derry for an easy game is mistaken,” said Long. “We beat them 4-2 in Dalymount in one of the strangest games of the year. After we scored four goals in ten minutes Derry dominated the game.
“They are in flying form and they have secured their Premier Division status. So, they will play with an element of freedom.
“I expect a good game. I expect both teams to go for it, and the players to go out and express themselves. But it will be a difficult game. It’s never easy up in Derry.”
For Friday, Derek Prendergast and James O’Brien return from injury but Lorcan Fitzgerald remains out and Roberto Lopes is suspended. Stephen Best is recovering but he is unlikely to be available this weekend, though he may return for the final game of the season.
Derry boss Paul Hegarty has confirmed that Patrick McEleney will miss out, while Rob Cornwall is suspended, however the rest of his squad is fully fit and available for selection.
Hegarty is expecting a tough encounter, but he’s hoping his players can continue their recent super form, which has seen them win three out of their last four games.
“To be fair Bohs have had a fantastic season and Keith Long has done a great job with them, but we have been playing quite well and have been getting better each week but we would hope to try and improve a bit more against Bohs,” stated Hegarty.
“We will also find out what the character of the players are like as we are heading towards the end of the season, we’ll see if they are mentally strong enough to go on and push on another bit, which I believe they are.”
Drogheda United v Longford Town
Drogheda United will be hoping to climb out of the relegation play-off position against Longford.
The Drogs remain level on points with Sligo Rovers in 10th and two points above bottom side Limerick, despite suffering a 2-1 defeat away to St Patrick’s Athletic last Friday.
“Two mistakes cost us on the night,” manager Mark Kinsella said. “We should have handled the penalty situation much better but we showed great character to fight back and get the equaliser. At that stage I thought we might go on and get a winner but they punished us after a weak defensive header and we couldn’t get back into it.
“Silly mistakes have cost us all season and it was very disappointing to not pick up a result having put so much effort into the game."
The Boynesiders were left with an anxious wait ahead of both Sligo Rovers’ game with Bohemians and Limerick’s meeting with Derry City the following night but both relegation rivals fell to defeat, which gives Drogheda renewed hope.
“Maybe the results on Saturday were the bit of luck we need but it will count for nothing unless we pick up some points in our next two games," said Kinsella.
“People have written us off all season and I’m not sure many would have thought that we can still even avoid the play-offs with two games to go but we need to focus on ourselves first and let the other results take care of themselves.”
Both Lloyd Buckley and Ger Pender are doubtful for Drogheda through injury, while Robert O’Reilly and Lee Duffy will serve one match bans.
Longford team news unavailable
Promotion play-off first leg
UCD v Finn Harps
UCD and Finn Harps meet at the UCD Bowl as they play the first of two games to determine who will face the 11th place Premier Division finisher for a spot in next season's top flight.
This will be the fifth time the two sides have met this season, with the first two games ending up in draws, and UCD winning 1-0 at home in July. In the sides' most recent encounter, Finn Harps were comfortable 3-0 winners at Finn Park last month.
UCD manager Collie O’Neill believes that makes Finn Harps big favourites for the tie.
“Finn Harps will be many peoples' favourites going into the game and deservedly so," he said. "They have had a great season and dominated us only a few weeks ago. We are going to have to improve a lot on our recent performances and be at our best to have a chance.”
UCD captain Robbie Benson (hand), Ryan McLaughlin and Greg Sloggett (groin) all miss out due to injury, while Chris Mulhall will be suspended for both legs of the playoff as he serves the final two games of his four-match ban.
However, Maxi Kouogun will be available once again after recovering from the injury which ruled him out of last week’s victory in Waterford.
Finn Harps will be hoping to improve on a record that has seen them promoted only once in their last six play-off outings.
That single promotion came against Waterford in 2007, the last time Harps took part in the end of season series. The other five all ended in heartbreak – two of these coming in penalty shoot-outs.
However, Harps will travel to Belfield in confident mood tonight having gone through the last quarter of the season unbeaten.
“UCD are an excellent footballing side who have a great mixture of experience with young very talented players,” said Horgan. “We will have our work cut out against them in the two games.
“Even though we beat them in our most recent game against them, previous form doesn't really matter from here on,” he said. “UCD themselves have won their last two games without conceding a goal so we know that anything we get will be hard-earned.
“We have to play very well for this to be a tight game,” he continued. “They will, as before, have the majority of possession and it will take a huge effort from us to keep the game alive for second leg.”
Horgan has no injuries or suspensions to deal with and will travel to the students with a full squad to choose from.
