Sporting Fingal vs Shelbourne

Sporting Fingal welcome local rivals Shelbourne to Morton Stadium on Friday, looking to bounce back from their poor 1-1 draw at Station Road last weekend. Sporting have endured a difficult fixture list of late, with this game completing their top of the table set having faced Dundalk and Waterford in August.

Brian Kelly (back) and Jim Crawford (calf) continue to recover from injuries and won’t be available but good news for manager Liam Buckley is that Peter Hynes, Chris Deans and Paul Caffrey all return from their suspensions.

Shelbourne have begun to turn their season around, having been bolstered by several acquisitions since the transfer window reopened. Their 5-0 win last weekend against Longford saw two new boys, David McAllister and Darren Forsyth, score four goals between them.

Manager Dermot Keely’s mood must have been lifted following that result, and the return to fitness of Anto Flood and Andrei Georgescu. However Philip Gorman is injured for this game and joins David McGill and Gary McCabe in the stands, as both men are suspended.

In the three games between these sides already this season, there has yet to be a victory for either side. (Shels win in the cup came after penalties) With Dundalk having recently opened up a six point gap over Shels and a seven point gap over Sporting, both sides will surely be looking for a win, with Sporting’s defender Chris Deans keen to address their problem with playing the sides around them.

“Aside from last week’s draw against Kildare, it’s the top three teams in the division that we have dropped points against so far in this campaign. We’re determined to change that on Friday.” [Deans obviously pushing the opening day drubbing at the hands of Longford Town deep into the crevices of his forgotten memories…]

Kick off at Morton Stadium on Friday is 19:45