St Pat's Uganda star hit by more tragedy

UGANDA international player Charles Mbabzi Livingstone who has been leading goalscorer with St Patrick's Athletic, will miss the club's upcoming matches because of another death in his family, the third within 18 months.

Livingstone, captain of Uganda and a superstar in his native land, has had to share an extraordinary sad run of fatalities with the other members of his family in recent years. He travelled home to Uganda this week to attend the funeral of a sister, while just 18 months ago he mourned the death of a brother and, within weeks, the passing of his father. St Pat’s fans paid a moving tribute to Livingstone on that occasion when he returned to Richmond Park and scored in his first match after the double bereavement. They rose to give the young striker a standing ovation in a gesture that established a remarkable bond between club and player.

He missed the club’s 1-0 win over Galway United in the FAI Carlsberg Cup replay that went to extra-time on Wednesday and will also miss St Pat’s derby match in the championship against Shamrock Rovers on Monday because of the latest bereavement.

St Pat’s were scheduled to play Bray Wanderers last night but that match was postponed because of their Cup game in Galway. The extra few days without a match will help them against a Rovers team struggling to hit consistent form. Elsewhere, Shamrock Rovers’ manager Liam Buckley was encouraged by their win over the Cup holders Dundalk in a replay on Tuesday, but he is hopeful new signing James Keddy will be fit to play against St Pat’s. Keddy was kept out of their opening games by a hamstring injury and with Billy Woods in form for Cork City, Rovers were missing some power on the left.

Another team faced with a second game in four days is Shelbourne who played UCD at Belfield last night and face Bray Wanderers on Monday.

Shels’ indifferent start to the season caused new manager Pat Fenlon some heartbreak.

The news that striker Trevor Molloy had agreed to join Carlisle United and their manager Roddy Collins was another setback.

Fenlon will be keeping his fingers crossed that centre-back Kevin Doherty and experienced midfielder Davy Byrne will be fit to play against Bray. Winger Dessie Baker is making good progress after an operation to repair a cruciate ligament injury but will be out for some time yet.Ireland’s U21 team manager Don Givens will be in Ballybofey tomorrow to watch a National League U21 selection play their Glasgow Celtic counterparts in Finn Park. The National League selection will be managed by Don O’Riordan and while he was not able to call upon all the eligible players because of League matches over the week end he has still come up with a strong squad which is:

Tadhg Murphy, Ray Scully, Phil Gorman (all Kildare County), Jason McGuinness, Ken Oman, Gary O’Neill (Bohemians), John Lester, Declan Field (Monaghan Utd), Alan McNally, Robbie Martin, Robbie Doyle (UCD), Ian Rossiter, Steve Feeney, Ralf Cretaro (Sligo Rovers), Gareth McGlynn (Derry City), Jim Fyffe (Limerick), Sean Dillon (Longford Town), Niall Bonnar (Finn Harps).