The dust has barely settled on an eventful Friday night in the SSE Airtricity League of Ireland as another set of matches takes place this evening.
Many sides will be happy to welcome another game after some heavy defeats and surprise outcomes.
Derry City remain unbeaten after ending a two-year undefeated Tallaght Stadium run for Shamrock Rovers.
The champions and UCD are the only sides not to claim a victory so far.
The Candystripes will look to maintain their lead at the top of the table when they travel to Belfield this evening.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport after their win in Tallaght, Derry boss Ruaidhri Higgins was not getting carried away with the result.
"It's too early to be talking about statement wins. It's a big win. We’ve gone away to Pat’s, away to Shamrock Rovers, and home to Cork and we’ve taken seven points. It’s a great start but that’s all it is.
"To come here and pick up points, I don't think Rovers lost a home game last season, so to come here and beat them was a brilliant result."
It was a worrying performance and scoreline by UCD after positive signs early in the season. This is not an ideal game for the Students as they look to add to their single point on the table.
Cork City were impressive on the night and travel to take on the champions with at least more hope than they would have had a few days ago.
Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley feels Cork deserve respect back in the top flight.
He continued: "I think what you’ll get with Colin’s teams is a team that’s really well organised and they know their jobs. If you watch their game against Derry, they had three or four really good opportunities to equalise and go ahead in the game.
"They’re off the back of a really good win against UCD so I’ve no doubt they’ll come up and have a right go. They’ll go to win the game, we’ve got to respect that and I’m sure we will, as we do every opponent. If you look at Cork as a team, they have real pace in their team so we’ve got to respect that as well."
Lee Grace and Daniel Cleary return from suspension for the home side. Roberto Lopes serves the final game of his ban. Sean Hoare came on as a substitute late on in the game last Friday.
The other eye-catching win last Friday was Dundalk hitting five goals against an out of sorts St Patrick’s Athletic.
Oriel Park was in jubilant mood as they registered a first three points of the season.
Manager Stephen O’Donnell had been confident his side would come good and they certainly did against the Saints.
Shelbourne are the visitors to Dundalk this evening.
O’Donnell stated: "Friday’s win will give our squad belief. It’s OK with us saying we’ve got good quality but it’s important for the players to see exactly what they can do when they do play to their potential against another strong team.
"It’ll give individuals belief, it’ll give our squad belief and it’ll give the supporters belief but one swallow doesn’t make a summer. We’re not there yet. We’re still a work in progress but I think we saw on Friday what potentially could be there.
"We said to the players after the game that Monday will be on us before we know it and it’s about getting our recovery in. We enjoyed the feeling in the dressing room and it was nice to lie in bed after such a good win and a good performance but we’ll be ready to go for Shelbourne on Monday."
Paul Doyle is doubtful after missing the win over Pat’s but Alfie Lewis is back in contention and Robbie McCourt and Robbie Benson are closing in on a return to full fitness. John Mountney (knee) is a long-term absentee.
Damien Duff was proud of his players as they battled to 1-0 success over rivals Bohemians.
This will be another tough task particularly with Shels hit by injuries to some of their key players.
Duff revealed: "It looks like we’ll be rolling with 12 or 13 fit (senior) players for the next week or two. I’m used to that. I did it for years as an underage manager. We’ll have to just go again on Monday."
St Pat’s travel to Sligo Rovers in a game between sides looking to bounce back from disappointing results.
Tim Clancy cut a frustrated and angry figure in his post-game interview in Oriel, while Sligo also failed to produce anywhere near their best in defeat to Drogheda.
"There'll be a few changes on Monday. Other players will play who deserve to play"
— League of Ireland (@LeagueofIreland) March 4, 2023
Tim Clancy spoke to LOITV after St Pat's fell to a 5-0 defeat in Dundalk.#LOI | #DUNPAT pic.twitter.com/CaH1I49WDx
Clancy has promised multiple changes to his team, saying "other will play who deserve to play, a big chance for people to stake a claim".
He added: "We know our performance in Dundalk on Friday was not good enough, we conceded really soft goals at really bad times and we know we need to improve.
"We want to put in a positive performance and get a positive result up in Sligo, the games against them last season were tight.
"We've been back in training on Saturday and Sunday preparing for the game and we've watched their last couple of matches so we know what to expect and we are planning to put things right."
Goalkeeper Danny Rogers will not return until late April.
Harry Brockbank (calf) is still out while Adam Murphy (Achilles) could return to action soon.
New goalkeeper Dean Lyness was on the bench in Dundalk while fellow newcomer Axel Sjoberg (defender) is also available for selection.
In the home dugout John Russell is also expecting a reaction from his players as they return to home comforts.
"We were very disappointed with our performance against Drogheda. We reviewed the game and identified areas where we need to improve.
"This game on Monday gives us the perfect opportunity to bounce back. I know the quality we have in the squad and, we’ve seen positive signs in our first two games.
"The key for us moving forward is getting a consistent level of performance.
"It’s great to be back at The Showgrounds after the two away games. The atmosphere for our last home game was electric. We’re expecting another big crowd roaring us on."
Greg Bolger is a doubt with a thigh strain. Substitute goalkeeper Conor Walsh will again be assessed closer to kick off following illness and injury over the past week and Rovers continue without Garry Buckley, Mark Byrne and Gary Boylan (all long-term knee injuries).
The final game of the night sees second place host third at Dalymount Park.
Bohemians lost their perfect record to Shels on Friday, however, and will be aiming to respond against a Drogheda United side once again defying expectations.
Their win over Sligo continued an unbeaten start and fired a warning to their expected rivals to avoid the drop.
Bohs will welcome a crowd of over 4,000 again with boss Declan Devine hoping to see a partisan atmosphere.
Devine said: "We were gutted on Friday night. It is not in my DNA or in the DNA of my players that we are willing to lose games, especially a Dublin derby.
"We have to take that defeat on the chin – there is no point feeling sorry for ourselves.
"We are happy that we have another game coming so quickly as I feel we have a strong squad but we certainly will not be underestimating Drogheda.
"We need our supporters really behind us in this game. I would call out to them – and I understand that it can be really expensive and a hard ask to attend three games in a week – but if we have our supporters in the ground early and behind us again on Monday it will really give the team a big lift."
Dylan Connolly (suspended) is Bohs’ only absentee.
Nearly 29,000 fans attended Premier Division games last Friday according to extratime.ie, with an average of 4,300 across the league.
Despite this being a first midweek round of the season, it’s expected that average will be largely maintained this evening.
