Derry City -v- Dundalk

DERRY CITY

Derry City will be looking to join St Patricks Athletic at the summit of the Premier division as they take on a Dundalk outfit who are enjoying a surprisingly good season at the Brandywell on Friday evening. (k.o 7.45pm)

Adding further spice to the eagerly awaited game will be the appearance of ex Derry manager Stephen Kenny in the opposition dug out as he takes on his former number two Declan Devine. Former Lilywhites Simon Madden, Michael Rafter and Mark Griffin will also be hoping to show their old side what they have been missing out on.

The leagues leading marksman Rory Patterson will return to the side after sitting out a suspension and Declan Devine has signed David McDaid, Dean Jarvis and Eugene Ferry to bolster his squad for the title run in. Devine will however have to plan without long term injury victims Thomas Crawley and Dermot McCaffrey and doubts remain about the fitness of Sean Houston and Ruaidhri Higgins after they picked up knocks against Bohemians last week.

Speaking before the game Declan Devine said "This is a huge game. We have a lot of big games coming up now and I feel the addition of the three new players can be massive for us as we look towards the end of the season."

Defender Shane McEleney said "The team are all looking forward to Friday nights gamebecause we know what a massive game it is for us.The win against Bohemians has given us a boost and we'll prepare well this week and look forward to the game. Fingers crossed we can go out and perform because it's a must win game and we must treat it as such."

DUNDALK

Dundalk will be looking to the fixture with a great deal of confidence after recording seven away wins already this season. Stephen Kenny has galvanised the squad after a tough campaign last year and his experience along with some good buys sees the Lilywhites fighting at the business end of the table.

For the tie on Friday, Dundalk will be without the suspended Stephen O’Donnell who serves out the final match of his four game ban while John Mountney , Stephen McDonnell and Mark Rossiter are all rated as doubtful for the trip north while Keith Ward is definitely out and will miss the remainder of the season with a cruciate ligament injury. On the plus side, top scorer Patrick Hoban will come into contention after he served his one match suspension against Limerick last weekend.

Speaking to Dundalkfc.com, Andy Boyle said, "We are obviously disappointed to have been beaten last weekend but there were positives to take from it. 2-0 up, we really should have taken it home but we have no one else to blame only ourselves. We have to move on, it’s a bad result but we can’t look back on it. We have Derry City now and it is a good game to have, we want to put things right but it won’t be easy. Derry have had a great season and it’s a huge task but we’ll go there and give it our all”.

Stephen Kenny commented, “It’s important that we bounce back from last week. We were on a good run and the result was a setback to us against Limerick. We have to go again and Derry won’t be easy but we will give it our best shot. We’ve got a few players missing so we have to rally round now and go get a result.”

Referee: Rob Rogers.

MATCH STATS

Derry City lead the league scoring charts with 38 goals.

Dundalk have won seven out of their nine away games this year.

Dundalk supremo Stephen Kenny has had two spells in charge at Derry.

BETTING

Derry City 4/6  Draw 13/5  Dundalk 4/1 

PREDICTION

Derry City 2-1 Dundalk

Derry City

Injured: Thomas Crawley (groin), Dermot McCaffrey (hamstring).
Doubtful: Sean Houston (leg), Ruaidhri Higgins (leg).
Suspended: None.

Dundalk

Injured: Keith Ward.
Doubtful: John Mountney, Stephen McDonnell, Mark Rossiter.
Suspended: Stephen O'Donnell.