City boss hopes for Devine inspiration in Setanta decider
Second-placed Cork take on Bray Wanderers at the Carlisle Grounds with goalkeeper Michael Devine still out through a knee injury, although the latest progress report is encouraging to such an extent that manager Damien Richardson now reports that Devine might even be available for tomorrow week's Setanta decider.
Says the City boss: "The specialist was very happy with what he saw this week, there wasn't much damage done, so, after doing a little bit of training on his own yesterday and today, he should be able to train with the rest of us after the weekend. And we'll see how he goes from there."
Meanwhile, Richardson is more than happy to have Mark McNulty between the posts again tonight - after his heroics in the Setanta Cup semi-final victory over Shelbourne on Monday.
"He's not just a capable deputy, he's a first-class deputy," says Richardson. "He's that rare thing, a goalkeeper with an outfield player's brain, as he showed when taking the ball off the toe of Stuart Byrne early in the first half against Shels.
"But it wasn't only Mark who has done well for us coming into the team. Earlier in the season, people were saying that we looked a bit thin in terms of strength in depth. At a minimum you want 14 players, ideally 16, who can come in when needed and you know that standards won't drop.
"I think we have that now, with the likes of Mark coming in for the best goalkeeper in the league or Denis Behan coming in for John O'Flynn or Cillian Lordan coming in for Alan Bennett."
Striker O' Flynn, still struggling with his hamstring, is once again a doubt for the visit to Bray, as is Billy Woods with a calf problem, but City welcome back Roy O' Donovan, suspended for the 2-0 win against Shels.
Wanderers go into the game joint bottom of the table with Waterford United, and smarting from their 4-1 hammering at the hands of UCD last Saturday. But Damien Richardson preaches against any hint of complacency on the part of the champions.
"You could say that this is the perfect fixture for Bray," he says. "The motivational factors for them are that they'll want to regain pride after last week and they're playing the current champions. And I'm very happy with that because they only way we're going to get better is to have a succession of games against teams who play as well as they possibly can against us.
"Pride will be important to Bray but I can guarantee them that pride is equally important to us, week in, week out."
UCD, whose victory over Bray took them to fourth place in the table are away to leaders Drogheda United, who go into tonight's game two points ahead of Cork. United, who were hugely impressive in their 0-1 Setanta Cup semi-final win against Linfield, on Tuesday, will be without Shane Barrett who could be out for a number of weeks after picking up an ankle injury early in the game at Windsor Park.
Encouragingly for manager Paul Doolin, however, Mark Leech - son of Shamrock Rovers legend Mick - made a very positive impression when coming off the bench for the former Longford Town man.
Two Dublin derbies complete the Premier Division fixture list tonight, with third from bottom Bohemians hosting fifth-placed St Pats, both sides coming off the back of one-nil defeats against Derry City and Drogheda respectively. Player-manager Gareth Farrelly and Jason McGuinness face late fitness tests for the Dalymount side who welcome Fergal Harkin back from injury.
Shelbourne, alongside Pats in fifth place, look to put the disappointment of their defeat in Turner's Cross behind them, meanwhile, against Dublin City at Tolka Park. The Shels-Dublin City game kicks off at 8pm; all other games have a 7.45pm start.
It has been announced, meanwhile, that Dublin's David McKeon will referee the Setanta Sports Cup Final, with assistance from IFA officials John McDowell and David Redfearn.
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