Shamrock Rovers -v- UCD

• John Robert Dunne
• Sat, Aug 15 2009


Shamrock Rovers will temporarily put aside thoughts of catching Bohemians at the top of the league as they entertain UCD at Tallaght stadium on Saturday night in the third round of the FAI cup. Rovers of course are always mentioned as cup specialists having won the competition a record 24 times but there last triumph was all of 22 years ago.

The Hoops will be targeting this year as an excellent chance to end that run and while most of their rivals have recently sold players Rovers have strengthened their squad going into the business end of the season. This week saw the announcement of a further addition, former Hibernians midfielder Ross Chisholm. Although unavailable for this tie he has signed until the end of the year and manager Michael O’Neill is excited by the addition. “We had Ross over for the friendly against Newcastle. He made quite an impression and we’re delighted to have signed him. Along with our other recent signings, Ross adds dept to our squad.” Chisholm will bring the experience of 46 appearances in the Scottish top flight and will be playing for a longer contract having been released by Hibs’ this summer.

O’Neill has almost a full squad to choose from with only long term absentee Ian Bermingham (knee), the cup-tied Pat Sullivan and recent new signings Alan Mannus and Chrisholm unavailable, the latter two due to the 14-day rule covering players arriving from different jurisdictions. Despite Rovers currently enjoying a 19 match unbeaten run O’Neill will not taking the challenge of UCD lightly. “Obviously it’s a competition that we want to win. UCD will provide tough opposition as they’re a young side with lots of energy and they’re having a good season. They will be looking forward to coming to Tallaght Stadium to take on Rovers but from our perspective we’ll be treating it like any other game and will prepare accordingly.”

UCD themselves are enjoying a solid season currently lying third in the First Division following relegation from the Premier last year. They will be missing Ronan Finn who will be suspended while Sean Harding and former Hoop Robbie Creevy are injured. This is countered some what be the return from suspension of Chris Mullhall. The Students manager Martin Russell is wary of facing high flying Rovers but remains confident of his side’s ability. “We are going there to play and compete and try to give as good an account of ourselves as possible. Rovers are one of the favourites for the cup and the league. They’ve a great record this season and Michael O’Neill has them achieving great results so we’ve got to give them that respect but we’ve also to try to express ourselves.” Russell hopes that making their first trip to Tallaght Stadium will inspire his side. “We’re looking forward to it, it’s a good surface and it’ll be good to play in front of the Rovers crowd.” .

Extratime.ie prediction; Rovers to win and go far in the cup 2-0. .