FRIDAY 01 APRIL
Dundalk v Derry City, Oriel Park, 7.45pm (Live on RTÉ 2 from 7.30pm)
All eyes will be on Oriel Park for the top-of-the-table clash between Dundalk and high-flying Derry City.
Last week the reigning champions bounced back from their defeat to Cork City with a resounding 4-0 win over St Patricks’ Athletic at Richmond Park and find themselves joined at the summit by a side they defeated on the three occasions they met last season.
This weekend’s televised fixture kicks off a busy April period for Dundalk, with the club due to play seven matches across the month, including three in the next eight days.
The home side have a doubt over former Candystripe Patrick McEleney, who is still recovering from a groin injury. However, he is the only injury worry manager Stephen Kenny has and there are no suspensions at this stage of the season.
Derry manager Kenny Shiels has indicated that he may "tweak" his starting team, who have won their last four successive games.
"You can play the same side for continuity, but every game is different, and this one is different to any we have had all this season," said Shiels.
"It's away to the champions of the last two seasons but we'll not be negative."
We will go there and play with a purpose and a method that we believe will be conducive to getting us a result."
Shiels has Ryan McBride, Aaron Barry and Conor McCormack available for selection after overcoming niggles.
“We have respect for Derry City,” Dundalk boss Stephen Kenny admitted.
“They are after winning four in a row, including victories over Galway United and Cork City, so they are in a good run of form themselves and playing well.
“From our point of view, we are all very pleased with our win and performance over St Patrick’s Athletic last week. I feel that we have lifted our performances over the past few weeks and we will be ready for Derry City.
Bohemians v Longford Town, Dalymount Park, 7.45pm
Bohemians manager Keith Long has told his players that continued hard work will reap rewards.
Friday night sees the meeting of two sides who were considered the surprise packages last year, with Bohs finishing fifth and Longford sixth.
But both clubs have had a sluggish start to the new season, with four points each from their opening five fixtures.
Long is confident of moving up the table and said: "We know we haven't clicked yet. But we need to have some perspective too, we're only five games into the season.
"If we continue working hard, our luck will change. The players have been positive and hard-working all week. I expect us to bounce back.
"Confidence is a huge thing. A good result against Longford and things can suddenly look a lot better."
Arguably the Gypsies' best performance of the season so far came against tomorrow's opposition, when Long's men ran out 3-1 winners in the EA Sports Cup nine days ago.
Long said: "It will be a different game and Tony Cousins will select a stronger team.
"But our mentality is the same. We want fast, attacking football. We want our players to go out and express themselves and to be positive in possession."
Bohs' home form has been encouraging so far, with two wins and a draw in all competitions at Dalymount Park and their options are boosted by the return of Eoin Wearen, who sat out the last three games with a viral infection.
Ismahil Akinade is also back in contention to start after a hamstring strain suffered in the EA Sports Cup game against Longford limited him to a substitute's role against Galway.
But there are doubts over Mark Quigley, who suffered a quad strain in training on Wednesday, and Jason Caffrey (hamstring).
Finn Harps v St Patrick’s Athletic, Finn Park, 8pm
After recording their second win of the season against Longford Town last Saturday night, Finn Harps welcome St Patrick’s Athletic to Finn Park.
The home side have a poor record against the Dublin club as you have to go back to 2001 to find their last victory over the Saints. Indeed, in their last 25 meetings, Harps have only won twice.
While the Saints were tipped by many as a good outside bet for the title before the start of the season, two defeats in their opening five games – both in Inchicore – have dampened that expectation somewhat.
“St Pat’s are a top side and play excellent football,” Harps boss Ollie Horgan said ahead of the game.
“We need to be at our best to make it hard for them at least. However, if we perform like we did in the last half an hour against Longford (last Saturday) that won't be good enough.
“We know plenty about them from the FAI Cup semi-final two years ago when we came out the wrong side of a heavy defeat,” warned the Harps boss.
Harps now have seven points from their opening five games and Horgan feels that is probably about right.
“I don't think we could have achieved any more points in the five games,” he said. “We stole a few points in that but possibly lost one against Shamrock Rovers but we aren't complaining.”
Barry Molloy, Josh Mailey and Sean Houston remain out and are still all at least a month away from returning. Ciaran Coll and Ryan Curran are slight doubts having picked up knocks in last week’s game against Longford.
St Pat’s remain without Jack Bayly through injury, while goalkeeper Conor O'Malley is back on the injury list having suffered an ankle problem.
Sean Hoare returns from Republic of Ireland Under-21 duty and Christy Fagan is back from illness.
Shamrock Rovers v Galway United, Tallaght Stadium, 8pm
Galway United travel to the capital hoping to inflict a third consecutive home defeat on Rovers, following losses to Bohemians and Drogheda United on the League Cup final.
Rovers manager Pat Fenlon remains without captain Stephen McPhail and defender Luke Byrne, who have been sidelined since the start of the season. The pair are however in full training and are expected to feature in the squad very soon.
Rovers have picked up two additional injury concerns with Gary Shaw (thigh) and Danny North (knee) ruled out of action. Killian Brennan has recovered from recent injury and is available for selection.
Galway manager Tommy Dunne will be without Alex Byrne (groin), Armin Aganovic (knee) and Stephen Folan (broken toe) and admits his side will be up against it.
"We grinded a result out last week in difficult conditions,” he said. “It was a well balanced game, we probably created the better chances and got the win in the end against Bohemians.
"This week, it's a bit different. You're going onto a big pitch at Tallaght Stadium and it's going to take the guys to be fully at it and possibly playing a bit more football.
"We're up against it, Rovers are a top three team. They've improved their group, it's a tough task.
"We're looking forward to the game. Everybody is hungry to do well, in a match we feel we can do okay in."
Wexford Youths v Bray Wanderers, Ferrycarrig Park, 8pm
Wexford Youths are still searching for that elusive first win of the season which Shane Keegan believes is just on the horizon.
"With five games gone we could have been looking at a scenario whereby we'd been hammered in four games but picked up a lucky win in one game and were sitting in ninth place and the table might look a bit better, but I wouldn't swap that for where we are,” he said.
“We've shown in every game so far that we are more than a match for the opposition. The performances could and probably should have us sitting on seven points. But we're learning some really hard lessons and we have to grow up as a team fast.
"We're frustrated, believe me, but we also know that we're just a fortunate bounce of a ball away from things turning for us.”
Jonny Bonner picked up an eye injury in training and will be absent for two weeks, while Shane Dunne's return to fitness is picking up pace but he remains doubtful for the game.
Aidan Keenan and Peter Higgins are still on the medium-term injury list.
SATURDAY 02 APRIL
Sligo Rovers v Cork City, Showgrounds, 7.45pm
Cork City travel to the Showgrounds to face struggling Sligo Rovers and are looking to make it three wins in a row.
With wins over Bohemians, Longford Town and Dundalk, defeat to Derry has been the only blot on the copybook thus far and manager John Caulfield is expecting a difficult game against a side they beat twice and drew once over the course of last season.
“We have another difficult trip going to Sligo, which is a fantastic place to go to," Caufield said.
"It is important for us to go up there, put in a top performance and try to get the three points.
"They have a new manager and they have a lot of youth and energy in their side. The manager has come in to turn the club around but he needs time. He has brought in a lot of young players; I’ve seen them a few times, they have a lot of energy and a lot of pace in their squad.”
Greg Bolger will miss the game through suspension, while John Kavanagh remains sidelined. Garry Buckley is also likely to miss out, while Alan Bennett, Colin Healy and Gearóid Morrissey have struggled with knocks but are expected to be available.
The Bit o’Red will be looking to bounce back from the loss to Bray Wanderers on Saturday and get a first league win this season.
Their last two home ties have ended in draws against Galway United and Finn Harps respectively as they seek to move away from the relegation zone.
Rovers only win the last 10 between these two teams in a league game was the 2-0 win in 2013.
