Dundalk vs. Waterford United

• Simon Carter
• Thu, Aug 21 2008




This Thursday, Waterford United travel to Dundalk knowing that a win in Oriel Park will see them rise to the summit of the eircom First Division, but a loss would see them trail the Louthmen by five points.

Dundalk went down by three goals to one on Monday in the FAI Ford Cup to Bray Wanderers, but despite the score line, they will feel that if they had taken their chances, the outcome would have been very different. Despite that loss, John Gill’s men will be very confident going into this game on the back of an unbeaten run of seven league games.

In Dundalk team news, Dessie Baker and Derek Doyle return after missing out on Monday due to being cup-tied. Damien Lynch and Tiarnan Mulvenna are both suffering from calf injuries. Ben Whelehan is doubtful with a back spasm picked up in the warm-up before Bray game. Robbie Martin out with knee injury but should be back jogging soon.

After an impressive win 3-1 win over Limerick 37 two weeks ago, the Blues are looking to extend their unbeaten run to 11 league games. This form has seen them overtake Shelbourne and Sporting Fingal to become Dundalk’s greatest threat to promotion.

Gareth Cronin has no suspensions to worry about but Gary Dunphy and Paul McCarthy will both miss out due to injury.

You can get odds of evens for a Dundalk win, setting them clear favourites. A Waterford win is at 12-5 whilst a draw comes in at 21-10.

The Extratime.ie prediction: Despite Waterford’s impressive unbeaten record, we think Dundalk will be too strong at home for the Blues. So we are giving the victory to the Louthmen on a scoreline of 3-1. The odds of that happening are rated at 18-1.