Cork City -v- Derry City

CORK CITY

Cork City are looking to maintain Stuart Ashton’s 100% league record on Friday night, when they entertain Derry City at Turner’s Cross.

The Rebel Army were knocked out of the FAI Cup last weekend by Sligo Rovers, but their cause will be aided in this clash of the “Cities” with the return of Ciarán Kilduff (cuptied), Daryl Horgan and Garry Buckley (both suspended).

Ashton also hopes to welcome back midfield ace Gearóid Morrissey from the ankle injury that kept him out on Saturday. Having gone over on his ankle last week in training, the former Blackburn Rovers player returned to training this week and is expected to play.

Speaking to CorkCityFC.ie, caretaker manager Ashton was taking positives from last week’s defeat:

“Our focus now is to catch the team ahead of us in the table and try to finish as high up the table as we can.

“We need to take the positives from the Sligo game: we worked hard, defended well at times when we had to and created some opportunities to win the game in the first half. We want to take those positives, along with our recent good form in the league, and hopefully that will allow us to come out of the game with the right result.

“Over the years we have had some classic games against Derry at the ‘Cross, and we are looking forward to another great game. Derry come into the game off the back of a win in the cup, so they will be on a high from that and I have no doubt that they will be tough opponents for us again.

“We have a job to do, and we will look to take our league form into the game with the aim of getting as high up the table as possible.”

Goalkeeper David Ryan also returns from a groin injury,however central defenders Darren Dennehy and Kevin Murray are expected to play little part in the remainder of the season.

Club stalward Danny Murphy also misses out through suspension, having accumulated eight yellow cards this season.

DERRY CITY

Derry City will make the long trip to Cork this Friday evening hoping to keep their title ambitions alive. After a couple of poor results in the league and a two tough games against Bluebell, the Candystripes will be looking to pick up three points for only the second time since September 2000 at Turner’s cross.

With Derry sitting in fourth position in the table eight points behind the leaders St Patrick's Athletic, Declan Devine's men know that a win on Friday evening would set up Tuesday evening’s tie against the leaders nicely. If they were to come away with two wins from their next two games they would be just five points behind with seven games to go.

Speaking ahead of the game Declan Devine had this to say."As with every game at Turners Cross we are expecting a very good, tight game with two teams giving it their all. This is a big fixture and a very important one for both clubs as it puts the two city sides against one another. At the start of the season this is the fixture that we look out for and the one that we always look forward to.

Turner’s Cross has always been a difficult place to pick up any kind of result. The fact that it's one of the better stadiums in the league with a great pitch and a fantastic support means it's always a great occasion with the atmosphere to match. So as with every game we play against Cork City I expect a tough game, but if we play to our full potential we should secure all three points."

Derry will be without the services of Stewart Greacen (knee) Kevin Deery (knee) Thomas Crawley (groin) and Sean Houston (ankle) while Shane McEleney and Ryan McBride will undergo fitness tests tomorrow before the game.

“The downside for us is the number of players we are missing, and from that point of view, we will have to do a bit of re-jigging. That said it is up to the players who come in to show their worth, show why they are in the squad in the first place and step up to the plate.“

Referee: Sean Grant.

MATCH STATS

Derry City have scored more away goals in the league this season (27) than any other side. In 2012 only Drogheda bettered this (29), and that was over the entire season.

Only the bottom three have scored fewer goals at home than Cork City.

Both sides have kept only two clean sheets in their last ten league games.

BETTING

Cork City 15/8; Draw 11/5; Derry City 7/5.

PREDICTION

1-1

Cork City

Injured: Kevin Murray (groin), Darren Dennehy (foot).
Doubtful: Gearóid Morrissey (ankle).
Suspended: Danny Murphy.

Derry City

Injured: Stewart Greacan (knee), Kevin Deery (knee), Thomas Crawley (groin), Seán Houston (ankle).
Doubtful: Shane McEleney, Ryan McBride.
Suspended: None.