Candystripes won’t take risks ahead of cup clash

Derry City and Dundalk meet in the Airtricity Premier League at the Brandywell tonight (7.45pm), with both sides bound to be keeping an eye on their respective FAI Ford Cup semi-final dates on Sunday.

Indeed, with the Candystripes now out of the running for a European place, manager Declan Devine is not going to be taking any chances with his main men this evening.

“It’s important to get a win, it’s important to get a bit of confidence going into Sunday, but I expect the team tonight to be completely different to the team which faces Shels,” he said. “We have to make sure that players are available for Sunday. I won’t be taking any risks on players who are struggling.”

“Struggling” hardly does justice to the overall plight of their opponents, Dundalk having fallen to their heaviest defeat in any competition in 43 years and their biggest league loss since 1955 when they shipped seven against Shamrock Rovers at Tallaght Stadium.

Meanwhile, Brian Lenihan of Cork City, Ryan Coombes of St Pats and the highly-rated Noe Baba of Castlebar Celtic are the home-based players in Paul Doolin’s squad for the U19 European Championship qualifiers in Luxembourg next month. The Irish play the hosts on October 11, Macedonia on October 13 and Germany on October 16 with the top two qualifying for the elite qualifying round.

Republic of Ireland U19s: Ian Lawlor (Man City), Danny Rogers (Aberdeen), Brian Lenihan (Cork City), Thomas Hoban (Watford), Pierce Sweeney (Reading), Ryan O’Reilly (Stoke), Shane Griffith (Reading), Bradley Garmston (West Brom), Ryan Coombes (St Pats), Luke Gallagher (Burnley), Kenneth McEvoy (Spurs), Kieran Saldier (West Ham), Michael Drennan (Aston Villa), Conor Wilkinson (Millwall), Jack Grealish (Aston Villa), Noe Baba (Castlebar Celtic), Conor Pepper (Inverness CT), Sam Byrne (Man Utd).