Shamrock Rovers -v- Dundalk

• Gareth Penrose
• Sun, Mar 21 2010


Shamrock Rovers will welcome Dundalk to Tallaght on Sunday afternoon for the third Live TV game in as many weeks. (kick off 3.45pm). Both teams will be looking for a win to close the gap on St. Pats and Bohemians at the summit of the Premier Division.

Rovers were defeated by St. Pats last week, and as expected title challengers they will be unhappy with only a return of one point from six. Manager Michael O’Neill is not panicking and believes he has the squad to turn things around and achieve a win over Dundalk.

“It’s important that we don’t overreact. Obviously we were disappointed to lose the game but the conditions were difficult and we failed to adapt and paid the price.

The players know that they have to do better. We’ve got a good and strong group of players here and we’ll be looking for the right kind of reaction from them against Dundalk.”

Looking ahead to the encounter, O’Neill acknowledged that Dundalk will be a challenge to turn over.

“They’ve had a good start to the season, and they’ve brought in a lot of new players who will all be looking to establish themselves and impress Ian Foster. It’ll be a tough game.

“There was a big crowd at our game on Tuesday and we let them down. We let ourselves down, and we have to address that. The only way to get over it is to go and play, and play better.”

Rovers strike force continues to be weakened with the absences of Gary Twigg (calf) and Dessie Baker (broken arm) who remain sidelined through injury, while James Chambers and Danny Murphy are suspended. Aidan Price and Pat Sullivan return from suspension.

“We’re as we were with Dessie and Gary both out for another few weeks,” says Hoops’ boss, Michael O’Neill. “Once again we have a couple of suspensions but everyone else is fine and available.”

With a victory over Bray Wanderers on the opening day and a hard fought point in the Louth derby last week, Ian Foster will be looking three points over Shamrock Rovers but history will be against the Dundalk manager. It is almost 13 years since the Lilywhites were victorious over the Hoops in the league.

Ian Foster has no suspensions to contend with but will be without injured pair striker Tiarnán Mulvenna (knee) and midfielder Alan Cawley (cheekbone). Mulvenna has been out of action since 29 January when he was injured during the fifth day of pre-season training. The knee injury recently required surgery but the club hope that he will be back in action early next month. Cawley suffered a triple fracture to the cheekbone following an aerial challenge in last Sunday’s Louth Derby, and is expected to be on the sidelines for the next six weeks.

Venue: Tallaght Stadium, Dublin

Referee: P. Tuite

Paddypower.com Odds: Shamrock Rovers 10/11, Draw 9/4, Dundalk 3/1

Shamrock Rovers
Injured: Gary Twigg, Dessie Baker
Doubtful: none
Suspended: Aidan Price, Pat Sullivan

Dundalk
Injured: Tiarnán Mulvenna, Alan Cawley
Doubtful: none
Suspended: none

extratime.ie Prediction: A score draw is my prediction for this one, 1-1.