Sporting Fingal -v- Longford Town
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Sporting Fingal will be looking to capitalise on Shelbourne’s slip-up in Athlone and gain some ground in the First Division title race when they entertain lowly Longford Town at the Morton Stadium on Sunday afternoon (kick-off 3pm).
Promotion push
Liam Buckley’s men will also be aiming to bounce back quickly from last weekend’s defeat by the leaders - their second loss in three games - and the Fingal boss believes his side are still capable of mounting a strong promotion push, although he knows that Longford will not be an easy hurdle to cross. “Like all of our games against Shels, there wasn’t much in it and whoever scored the first goal was bound to hold a massive advantage,” said Buckley about the 1-0 reverse at Tolka Park.
Buckley aware
“Any loss is disappointing,” he added, “but I must emphasise that we’ve just passed the midway stage of the campaign and we’re still capable of challenging at the top. The attitude of the players is such that they have turned their minds to the Longford Town game all week. Town have improved lately - they hit five goals at Athlone Town on Tuesday which is no easy feat - and manager Gareth Cronin has made his mark by signing some decent players.”
No surrender
Fingal defender Brian Gannon is also looking for the three points on Sunday. “We have enough self-belief to know we can get back in contention for automatic promotion,” he said. “None of the players are going to throw the towel in at this point just because of one result.” Fingal are at full strength for the visit of the midlands club, who could be without Mick Foley and Kevin Cronin through injury. On a plus point, Jordan McMillan, who recently joined on loan from Shelbourne, could be in line for his debut.
Cronin confident
And manager Gareth Cronin is confident that Longford can record their third straight win - after recent three-goal victories over Mervue United and Athlone Town - for the first time since October 2007. “We’ll still need a massive improvement but I’m confident that if we play well and cut out the silly mistakes we’ll give Sporting Fingal a very good game,” the former Waterford United boss said. “I set myself the target of catching one team a month when I came in. First up was Mervue and we’re ahead of them now on goal difference. Athlone are next and a couple of good results should see us overtake them, then we can set out sights on Monaghan United and Finn Harps.”
Promotion push
Liam Buckley’s men will also be aiming to bounce back quickly from last weekend’s defeat by the leaders - their second loss in three games - and the Fingal boss believes his side are still capable of mounting a strong promotion push, although he knows that Longford will not be an easy hurdle to cross. “Like all of our games against Shels, there wasn’t much in it and whoever scored the first goal was bound to hold a massive advantage,” said Buckley about the 1-0 reverse at Tolka Park.
Buckley aware
“Any loss is disappointing,” he added, “but I must emphasise that we’ve just passed the midway stage of the campaign and we’re still capable of challenging at the top. The attitude of the players is such that they have turned their minds to the Longford Town game all week. Town have improved lately - they hit five goals at Athlone Town on Tuesday which is no easy feat - and manager Gareth Cronin has made his mark by signing some decent players.”
No surrender
Fingal defender Brian Gannon is also looking for the three points on Sunday. “We have enough self-belief to know we can get back in contention for automatic promotion,” he said. “None of the players are going to throw the towel in at this point just because of one result.” Fingal are at full strength for the visit of the midlands club, who could be without Mick Foley and Kevin Cronin through injury. On a plus point, Jordan McMillan, who recently joined on loan from Shelbourne, could be in line for his debut.
Cronin confident
And manager Gareth Cronin is confident that Longford can record their third straight win - after recent three-goal victories over Mervue United and Athlone Town - for the first time since October 2007. “We’ll still need a massive improvement but I’m confident that if we play well and cut out the silly mistakes we’ll give Sporting Fingal a very good game,” the former Waterford United boss said. “I set myself the target of catching one team a month when I came in. First up was Mervue and we’re ahead of them now on goal difference. Athlone are next and a couple of good results should see us overtake them, then we can set out sights on Monaghan United and Finn Harps.”
