Preview: Sporting Fingal vs Limerick 37

• Turlough Kelly
• Fri, Mar 21 2008




Friday night's encounter between Sporting Fingal and Limerick 37 (Morton Stadium, Santry, 7.45 pm kick-off) sets in opposition two teams whose fortunes thus far in the season have dovetailed neatly. Both began with abject defeats on the road (Fingal losing 1-5 in Longford, Limerick felled by a Philip Sheppard penalty away to Monaghan) before recovering with convincing home victories over two of the division's lesser lights (Athlone Town and Wexford Youths respectively.)

The structure of the club itself may have changed beyond recognition in the interim, but Limerick's away form during the latter half of last season was reasonably impressive, and key players from the class of 07 remain in situ. Fingal's relentless waves of attacks overwhelmed Athlone last Sunday but may run aground against a solid Limerick defence marshalled by Paul Danaher and Tommy Barrett. The energetic Wayne Colbert will prove a match for Fingal's similarly hyperactive Paul Caffrey and Colly James in central midfield.

Limerick's counter-attacking ability should place Fingal's defensive babysitter Jim Crawford under scrutiny from which he was largely exempted against Athlone. Nonetheless, Fingal's firepower (and refreshing willingness to use it) represents a formidable threat; Peter Hynes, Robbie Doyle and Conan Byrne all harbour a rapacious appetite for goals and require close attention.

Similarly close attention will be paid to the attendance on the night; the 1,234 punters who passed, uncharged, through the gates on Sunday will have seen enough to lure them to Santry for the next installment of Fingal's adventures in the eircom League. Whether they do so in sufficient numbers to silence those who attributed Sunday's mammoth attendance to the various promotional schemes on offer remains to be seen, but the fact that this fixture falls on Good Friday (traditionally the one day of the year when the unavailability of alcohol forces panic-stricken and confused natives to seek any form of alternative diversion going) will stand in their favour.

With little daylight discernible between the teams, a draw is perhaps the most prudent prediction. Whatever the outcome, the likelihood of a penalty being awarded is somewhat elevated, given that four such infractions have occurred in Limerick's two games to date (three of them - the totality of goals scored in games involving Limerick this season - converted.)