Kildare County FC -v- Sporting Fingal FC
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Kildare County welcome Sporting Fingal to Station Road on Friday night night (kick-off 7.30pm) with the hosts still looking for their first win of the season. With just a point to their name, Kildare face a tough task against Sporting, who travel to Newbridge on the back of their opening victory of the campaign against Wexford Youths last weekend.
Donnelly 'disappointed'
"There are going to be mistakes, the lads are young players and they are stepping up to a level that most of them have never played at before," said Kildare manager Thomas Donnelly after last Saturday's 4-0 hammering at Longford Town. "But we are just very disappointed that the goals were similar to the ones that we conceded in Athlone, especially if you compare Longford’s second and the first against Athlone."
Kildare 'hurting'
"At this level, if you make mistakes you get punished and that is what is happening to us at the moment," he added. "It was good to see afterwards, though, how annoyed and disgusted the players were. I like to see that in players because it shows it is hurting them." Kildare's season has taken a turn for the worst since they conceded a late equaliser at home to Finn Harps on the opening day, as they have followed that draw with two successive defeats.
Sporting advantage
And Donnelly knows how hard it will be for his side to end that sequence this weekend. “Anyone who seriously thinks we are going to be able to compete against Sporting Fingal (over the course of a season) is wrong, because we won’t," he said. "They are a full-time team but what I can guarantee is that we will be 100 percent committed and we will be looking for a win. Fingal are training full time and are full of quality players, but it will be a good experience for our players and we can only hope that they learn from playing against better opposition.”
'Difficult match'
Sporting too endured a difficult start to the season as they drew at Waterford United and then lost at home to UCD. However, they bounced back at the Morton Stadium last Friday when goals from Eamon Zayed and Conan Byrne proved enough to see off Wexford. "We have a difficult match ahead of us at Kildare and we’ll have to continue the good form we showed against Wexford to get a decent result,” said Sporting boss Liam Buckley. "We’ve picked up a few injuries in recent weeks and hopefully the lads are back available soon, because [we have] a lot of tough matches ahead."
Injury front
On the injury front, Kildare are without Dave O’Riordan, John Flynn and David O’Connell (long term), with Ken Mahoney having left the club this week due to personal reasons. For Sporting, Shane McFaul picked up an ankle injury against Wexford and will be missing for two weeks, while Gary O’Neill and Stephen Paisley (both groin) are also out.
extratime.ie prediction: Sporting Fingal to win 2-0.
Donnelly 'disappointed'
"There are going to be mistakes, the lads are young players and they are stepping up to a level that most of them have never played at before," said Kildare manager Thomas Donnelly after last Saturday's 4-0 hammering at Longford Town. "But we are just very disappointed that the goals were similar to the ones that we conceded in Athlone, especially if you compare Longford’s second and the first against Athlone."
Kildare 'hurting'
"At this level, if you make mistakes you get punished and that is what is happening to us at the moment," he added. "It was good to see afterwards, though, how annoyed and disgusted the players were. I like to see that in players because it shows it is hurting them." Kildare's season has taken a turn for the worst since they conceded a late equaliser at home to Finn Harps on the opening day, as they have followed that draw with two successive defeats.
Sporting advantage
And Donnelly knows how hard it will be for his side to end that sequence this weekend. “Anyone who seriously thinks we are going to be able to compete against Sporting Fingal (over the course of a season) is wrong, because we won’t," he said. "They are a full-time team but what I can guarantee is that we will be 100 percent committed and we will be looking for a win. Fingal are training full time and are full of quality players, but it will be a good experience for our players and we can only hope that they learn from playing against better opposition.”
'Difficult match'
Sporting too endured a difficult start to the season as they drew at Waterford United and then lost at home to UCD. However, they bounced back at the Morton Stadium last Friday when goals from Eamon Zayed and Conan Byrne proved enough to see off Wexford. "We have a difficult match ahead of us at Kildare and we’ll have to continue the good form we showed against Wexford to get a decent result,” said Sporting boss Liam Buckley. "We’ve picked up a few injuries in recent weeks and hopefully the lads are back available soon, because [we have] a lot of tough matches ahead."
Injury front
On the injury front, Kildare are without Dave O’Riordan, John Flynn and David O’Connell (long term), with Ken Mahoney having left the club this week due to personal reasons. For Sporting, Shane McFaul picked up an ankle injury against Wexford and will be missing for two weeks, while Gary O’Neill and Stephen Paisley (both groin) are also out.
extratime.ie prediction: Sporting Fingal to win 2-0.
About Gordon Hunt
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