Sporting Fingal -v- UCD

Credit:

Last season’s two promoted sides Sporting Fingal and UCD resume their league campaigns at Morton Stadium on Friday night. (7.45pm)

Both sides emerge refreshed from the mid-season break, with the one player definitely missing for both sides with Ger O’Brien of Fingal and Greg Bolger of UCD missing through suspension. Gary O’Neill and Stephen Paisley will undergo late fitness tests, but Fingal manager Liam Buckley was satisfied with his side’s league effort so far:

“Overall, coming towards the midway points of the campaign, I feel that the industrious effort of the players has gotten its rewards but there’s a long way to go and we can’t afford to slacken off. This is the first game back from the summer break and we’ve used that period to work on certain aspects of our play, especially from an attacking perspective, in training.”

UCD manager Martin Russell has added midfielder Paul O’Conor to his squad from the college Leinster Senior League team after impressing coaches. Russell says that the mid-season break was welcome in his squad: “Some of our lads were combining exams with professional football so it’s been an opportunity for them to chill out.

David McMillan, for example, got a lot of deserved publicity as the soccer writers’ choice for May but it went almost unnoticed that he won a Bachelor of Science degree during the same month. It’s given us the chance to attend to a couple of minor knocks in the treatment room too.”

Venue: Morton Stadium
Referee: Graham Kelly
Paddypower.com odds: Sporting Fingal 8/11 Draw 9/4 UCD 15/4

Sporting Fingal
Doubtful: Gary O'Neill, Stephen Paisley
Injured:
Suspended: Ger O'Brien

UCD
Doubtful: None
Injured: None
Suspended: Greg Bolger

Extratime.ie Prediction: Close game but Fingal to win by a goal.