This Friday Monaghan United travel to play UCD in their 2nd away game of the season. The ‘Students’ who made the drop from the Premier Division last season would appear to be keen on returning there without delay, they have collected all six points from their first two outings with win over Limerick and Sporting Fingal. They kicked off the new season with only one player from last years first X1 and had six players making their debut. Martin Russell is their new manager he was assistant to former manager Pete Mahon last season.
Our last outing against UCD was in the FORD/FAI Cup last season when we defeated them 1-0 at Belfield. United’s Manager Mick Cooke will be hoping for a repeat performance on Friday and on recent form against Longford and Shelbourne are more than capable of getting the results. Few who were at both games could dispute that Monaghan United were the better team for most of the two games and with a bit more luck should be on 6 points at this stage.
Hopefully we will again have a good turn out especially of our Dublin based supporters for the 7.45.p.m. kick off.
Injuries and Suspensions
Suspended : Aaron Mooney, Sean Brennan
Injuries : none
Results of Last fixtures
Monaghan United 0-1 Shelbourne FC
Longford Town 3-3 Monaghan United
Next 5 Fixtures
Fri Mar 20 UCD v Monaghan United 7.45.p.m.
Fri Mar27 Monaghan Utd v Mervue United 8.p.m.
Sat Apr 4 Limerick v Monaghan United 5.00.p.m.
Fri Apr 10 Monaghan United v Sporting Fingal 8.p.m.
Fri Apr 18 Waterford United v Monaghan United 7.45pm
Managers Quotes
“ I believe we were unlucky not to end up with at least a share of the points against Shelbourne and indeed with a bit more luck especially in the first half we could have taken all three. The encouraging thing was the way we performed. Shelbourne will be one of the top sides in the 1st. Division this season and I believe we had their measure for most of the contest; it was one of those type of games that you knew that a goal would settle it and unfortunately Shels got it. However play wise the 75th minute goal didn’t put us out of the game and we continued to put it up to them and came close to equalising.
If Shels are one of the top teams I believe that UCD would be one of the other sides that will impress this year and they are our next opponents on Friday night at ‘The Bowl’. We had a win there against them in the Cup last season, it was a tight game and we had to play out of our skins to beat them and they same type of performance will be required on Friday, not many teams will take away points from ‘The Bowl’ this season, however I believe that if we play to our true performance such as we demonstrated in the come back against Longford and the first half against Shels and very importantly a bit of luck we can get a result and kick start our season.
In Martin Russell they have a new manager, he was with them as assistant manager last season and most of the squad are new signings as well.
We had a good away support when we played them last time so hopefully we will have the same again on Friday night”
Cork City make the long trip north to the Brandywell to take on Derry City tomorrow night.
A draw away to Sligo and a defeat at home to St. Patrick’s Athletic mean the Rebel Army have only one point to show from their opening two games, but manager Paul Doolin is far from despondent and he told CorkCityFC.ie that he believes his side have been unlucky not to have got more out of their opening two games. Speaking ahead of the journey north, Doolin said: “Everyone knows that facing Derry City at the Brandywell is a tough task. Derry are a decent team, they have signed some good players over the close season and they have started well. To be fair to ourselves, I feel we should have got something out of both games we have played so far. Against St. Pat’s last Friday we conceded a bad goal early on, but I think we dominated the game after that and I think we deserved to get something out of the game.”
City suffered more bad news on the injury front this week, as it has emerged that the knee injury picked up by Stephen O’Donnell is likely to keep him out for the next six months or so. While the full extent of the injury has yet to be determined, it has been confirmed that O’Donnell has suffered damage to his cruciate ligament. Latvian international Robert Mezeckis will also miss the game against Derry. Mezeckis suffered an ankle injury against St. Pat’s, and while initial fears that he had broken his ankle have proved not to be the case, the central defender has suffered ankle ligament damage and it is believed he will be sidelined for approximately four weeks. City will also be missing Pat Sullivan, as he starts a two game suspension carried over from last season, and Doolin admits that the three absentees will be missed: “The injuries and suspensions certainly don’t help us, but the main thing is that the players are working hard and they have just been a little bit unlucky. It is still very early, and the important thing for us now is to keep going, keep working and hopefully get a good result in Derry.”
Shelbourne travel to the South-East on Friday, to take on one of the leading contenders for the Division One title, in a game that was originally scheduled for Saturday night.
The Reds have secured two wins from two outings so far this season - Home to wexford Youths (2-1) and away to Managhan United (0-1). manager Dermot Keely will however be looking for all-round improvement against the Blues, under new boss, Stephen Henderson, as at times in Monaghan last week, especially in the first half, it looked as if the Reds, once again, would be leaving the venue with nothing to show fro their efforts. However, following a couple of substitutions early in the second half, his charges showed some of the form which has them installed by the bookies as one of the favourites to head the table come mid November.
Both Darren Meenan and David McGill miss this outing as a result of misdemeanours last season.
On the injury front, Stephen Quigley will not play having picked up a calf injury in the game with Monaghan United.
