Waterford United vs Monaghan United

Waterford United welcomes Monaghan United to the RSC on Friday night as the look to keep the pressure on league leaders Dundalk (kick-off 19:45).

Gareth Cronin will be itching to get his side back to action having seen last week’s game called off against Shelbourne due to a flooded Tolka Park. The Blues are on a solid run of form, with four wins and one draw in their last six games, scoring 14 times in the process.

The two games between the sides this season have been at polar opposites, a freewheeling 5-0 demolition of the Ulstermen at the RSC followed by a tight and tense 0-0 draw at Kingspan Century Park in July.

More recently Monaghan have recorded excellent wins away from home at Kildare and Longford, showing that they are no slouches on their travels, but the Blues will not be happy with anything less than a convincing victory.

That home win at the start of May included a Vinny Sullivan hat-trick (and a missed penalty), and the Dungarvan striker will be strongly pushing for a starting place after scoring as a second half substitute against Kildare two weeks ago. But with the current strike pairing of Karl Bermingham and David Grincell in such good form manager Gareth Cronin will have a bit of a headache ahead of Friday's match, albeit a very pleasant one.

Luke Fitzpatrick is available to line out against his old side having been suspended for the Kildare match, and John Hayes returns from a bout of 'flu, so, with the exception of long-term absentee Paul McCarthy, Cronin will have a full squad to choose from.

Monaghan United will be without keeper Brendan Kennedy, Ian Malone and striker David Scully due to injury. Andrew Haran is suspended. Otherwise Mick Cooke will have a strong squad to pick from.

Extratime.ie Prediction: Waterford are awesome at home. On paper anyhow. 13 played, 10 wins, 3 draws. Mons are not so hot on the road. We just can’t see past a Waterford win for this one. 3-1 is our predicted result. A straight Waterford win is available at 4-9. A draw is 11-4 whilst a Mons win can be gotten at 11-2. Our 3-1 prediction can be gotten at 11-1.