Wexford Youths -v- Monaghan United

• Andrew Cunneen
• Thu, Sep 09 2010


Mick Cooke’s Monaghan United make the long trek to the south-west to face Wexford Youths at Ferrycarrig Park on Friday night. (Kickoff 8pm)

United have won the last four of their league games off the back of a defeat to Shelbourne, and find themselves sitting in the playoff spots, exceeding all expectations. They have proven to be quite difficult to beat, and will be a stern test for Noel O’Connors’ men on Friday evening.

The home side have been poor of late, falling well behind the rest of the pack in terms of playoff ambitions. The Youths lie sixteen points behind third place Waterford United and one would consider the gap to be somewhat insurmountable. Wexford have been quite good at home, defeating Limerick by five goals to three, being a particular highlight. Their confidence may well be high coming off the back of scoring five in Terryland Park last week.

The teams have already met twice this season, seeing Monaghan taking maximum points from the encounters. United won by a single goal in this fixture back in March, while the reverse in Gortakeegan saw a comprehensive four-two win. Monaghan will look for the clean sweep on Friday night on Slaneyside.

The height of success that Monaghan have enjoyed this season can only be described as miraculous. United find themselves involved in the race for automatic promotion, only four points behind leaders Derry. They travel to the Showgrounds to take part in the EA Sports Cup Final as well as a meeting with them at the same venue the week before, in the quarter final of the FAI Cup.

Despite all this cup success, Mick Cooke will firmly prioritise promotion, whether that be via automatic promotion or the drama of a playoff.

Monaghan United will be without their key playmaker, Sean Brennan who is suspended for the tie. His creativity, vision and pace will be a massive loss for Monaghan, and Wexford will look to capitalise on this.

Wexford Youths:
Injured: None
Suspended: None
Doubtful: None

Monaghan United:
Injured: None
Suspended: Sean Brennan
Doubtful: None

Referee: J. Grimes

Extratime.ie Prediction: Monaghan to be too strong, 0-2.