Credit:
Sporting Fingal -v- Mervue United
- Niall Farrell
- Thu, Jun 03 2010
Cup holders Sporting Fingal will kick off their 2010 FAI Cup campaign with a home tie against Mervue United this Friday (kick off 7.45pm).
Mervue, who lie second-from-bottom in the First Division, face a mammoth task if they are to upset Fingal, who are currently fourth in the Airtricity Premier Division. Fingal faced Mervue last season in their promotion-winning campaign, and manager Liam Buckley says they can’t afford to take the Westerners for granted.
“I know from our meetings with Mervue last season how tough they can make it for opposition teams and we’ll have a challenge on our hands this evening to get past this first hurdle,” says Buckley. Buckley acknowledges that the home draw favours Sporting: “All any manager wants is a home tie and we’re excited about embarking on, hopefully, another decent run.”
“That Cup final success was over seven months ago and things have taken off for us quite rapidly since, both on and off the pitch,” states the Fingal boss.
Buckley continues, commenting on what the cup win has done for Sporting as a club.
“It has provided the club with a springboard to increase our profile within the community of Fingal and allow us develop further the initiatives contained in the Fingal soccer development plan.
Sporting are coming off the back of a 2-0 win last week over Galway United, and Buckley says “getting the win over Galway last weekend was important in the context of keeping in the mix - albeit we’ve played better in other games and only drawn – but I’m satisfied that we’re heading towards attaining the standard I know we can.”
Mervue lost narrowly last Sunday away to Wexford Youths, 3-2 being the final score in Ferrycarrig Park. United have only two days between Friday’s fixture and the visit of Cork City to Terryland Park, and manager Tom French may choose not to field a full-strength squad in a bid to pick up Mervue’s third win of the season.
Sporting are missing a number of key players, including the scorer of the winning goal in last season’s FAI Cup final, Gary O’Neill. O’Neill is out with a hamstring injury and joins Shane McFaul, Stephen Paisley and John Frost on the absentee list.
About Niall Farrell
Niall Farrell is our correspondent at Tolka Park, covering the goings-on at Shelbourne. You can visit Niall's website for further information and contact details- niallf.net.