Shamrock Rovers – Cork City Preview: Hoops host high-flying Rebels
By Daire Walsh
The visitors will be hoping to continue their winning run when they face Pat Fenlon’s side in Tallaght, while the hosts are looking to pick up momentum
Shamrock Rovers will be aiming to put a dent in Cork City’s title aspirations, when they welcome the second-place Leesiders to the Tallaght on Friday night.
In addition to absent left-back Luke Byrne, Rovers will also be without the suspended duo of Gary McCabe and Killian Brennan for this game, while Evan Osam and Danny North have also been ruled out of contention through injury.
As things stand, Rovers also have an outside chance of winning the league, but, speaking to the club’s official soundcloud ahead of the game, Hoops boss Pat Fenlon acknowledged that they need to start accumulating more points in order to do so.
“It’s the games where we haven’t played well and we haven’t picked up points are the most frustrating,” Fenlon said.
“When your backs are against the wall in games, those are the games you need to pick up some points, accept you’re not playing well, dig in and come away with the points.”
Cork City enter this contest hoping to extend their winning streak in the top-flight to nine games. A victory over Dundalk prior to the mid-season break reduced the gap between them and the league leaders to a single point, but they will more than likely be minus the services of John Kavanagh and Michael McSweeney for this encounter.
Karl Sheppard may also be joining long-term absentee John Dunleavy on the treatment table, but City supremo John Caulfield believes this clash with Rovers is a good game to re-ignite their title challenge.
“After being away for a couple of weeks, it is a good game to have. If it was not such a big game, there might be a danger of guys taking their eyes off the ball, with the European draw and everything, so I think it is an ideal game for us,” Caulfield remarked at a club press conference this week.
“They are probably looking at it from the point of view that, if they win, they are back within five points of us, which puts them back in with an outside chance of the league.”