Preview: Monaghan United vs Dundalk
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eircom League of Ireland First Division leaders Dundalk make the short trip north to local rivals Monaghan United this Friday evening, hoping to bounce back from last week’s home defeat to Shelbourne by taking their first win away from Kingspan Century Park in almost two years. The ground has proved a difficult bogey for the Lilywhites to overcome in the past two seasons, as they have taken just one point from their last three visits - two of those defeats seriously damaging Dundalk’s last two title bids in the process.
This season, the Oriel Park outfit had been in unstoppable form up until last week, with eight wins and two draws from their opening ten competitive matches. However, that quickly changed within the space of just four days, as a heavy League Cup loss away to Bohemians was followed by another disappointing result as John Gill’s men suffered just their second reversal in 34 league outings at home as they went down 3-1 to Shels. Now, however, Dundalk have a chance to bury two ghosts with the one hit, as they look to maintain their two-point advantage at the summit.
Dundalk must go into this game without their regular central midfield pairing of David Cassidy and Paul Shiels, as the duo sit out through automatic one-match suspensions after they were both sent-off during the loss to Shelbourne last week. On a positive note, however, the Lilywhites could be boosted by the return of striker Robbie Martin, who has missed the last four games through injury. Elsewhere, the club were given a huge boost this week by the news that goalkeeper Aaron Shanahan may return before the June break, after it was originally feared that the 24-year-old would miss the remainder of the season.
Monaghan will be without the services of Brendan Kennedy due to a calf injury. Mons manager Paul Cooke is aware it’s going to be a tough match but he confident of this team and their ability to get all three points. “ We are looking forward to this derby match with Dundalk who are going very well this season. After their defeat against Shelbourne John Gill will be looking to get back into the winning grove. We have a good success rate in Kingspan Century Park against Dundalk. I was very proud of the teams performance last week end in Limerick. Having gone ahead after 14 minutes we conceded two soft goals but fought well to get back to parity and I felt ! very disappointed leaving Limerick without all three points. We will going all out for full points against Dundalk”.
The match kicks off at 8:00pm on Friday
