Dundalk FC vs. Sporting Fingal

Joint leaders Dundalk can get their title hopes back on track this Thursday night when they face promotion rivals Sporting Fingal in a crucial League of Ireland First Division clash at Oriel Park (kick-off 7.45pm). The Lilywhites led the standings by four points just three weeks ago. However, shock defeats to Longford Town and Wexford Youths in the past fortnight has seen their advantage wiped out, as they now lie behind Shelbourne on goal difference.

Shels, who were eight points adrift just three games ago, have taken full advantage of costly slip-ups by both Dundalk and Waterford United to shoot themselves right back into the league race with three wins on the spin. The Reds currently lead the table by just a single goal, while Waterford are only a point behind the top two. Fingal, meanwhile, are five points in arrears but have a game in hand on the trio above them, as the run-in promises to be the most exciting in years.

With just five games now remaining in the pursuit of the sole promotion place, there is no further room for error for John Gill’s faltering Lilywhites. However, the boss is confident that his troops can bounce back this week and reignite confidence around the border venue. “I still have full belief in the players that I have,” Gill wrote in his programme notes for the game. “There’s some great characters in the dressing-room. I know it’s difficult for the supporters not to panic, and I don’t blame them for that, because it’s not nice with the run of results that we’ve had. Football is a funny game; a kick of a ball can change the whole mood around the place.

“We’ve just got to focus on the next game, and the most important game now is the one against Fingal. It’s funny the way football works. If we can go and get a result, everybody is patting you on the back again. Confidence might be a bit low, but that’s my job to get it back, and I try to do that on the training pitch. We’ve had a good season, we’re at the top, so I don’t see why confidence should be as low as people think it is. It’s about mental strength now in the next five games, and I think there’s a lot of strong players in our dressing-room.”

Dundalk were knocked off the summit for the first time since mid-July last weekend after taking just one point from the last nine on offer. They are also without a clean-sheet in the league since holding Sporting Fingal to a scoreless draw at the Morton Stadium back in early August. Incredibly, they have leaked 14 goals in the eight outings since then, compared to just 13 conceded in their first 23 games.

Both meetings between these sides in Dublin this term ended in draws, 1-1 in April and 0-0 in August. However, in the only encounter so far at Oriel, back in May, Dundalk came from behind twice to win a thrilling and incident packed match 3-2.

Team News: Dundalk have to plan without key midfielder David Cassidy, who is ruled out through suspension as a result of accumulating eight penalty points. Striker Robbie Martin (back) is also out. On the plus side, midfield trio Paul Shiels, Jamie Duffy and Derek Doyle are all available for selection again after missing last week’s defeat in Wexford through one-match bans. Fingal, meanwhile, are without two centre-halves, Philip Byrne (suspended) and Aidan Collins (injured). Midfielder Jim Crawford will also be absent after taking over Shamrock Rovers until the end of the season.