Caulfield expecting tough Oriel Park test for table-toppers City

It isn’t quite a top of the table clash – since joint leaders St Pat’s are not in action until they travel to Sligo tomorrow – but Oriel Park is the venue for a big SSE Airtricity League game this evening, as third hosts first with the meeting of Dundalk and Cork City.

Still the only unbeaten side in the league, table-toppers City also travel to Louth with a 100% away record but manager John Caufield is expecting a tough test in Oriel from a team he has described as “one of the big title contenders this year”.

Darren Dennehy returns for City following suspension but Darren Murphy is still sidelined with a hamstring injury. And while Danny Morrissey is expected to resume full training next week, fellow striker Michael Rafter remains out for the foreseeable future.

Dundalk, who saw their 12-game unbeaten run brought to a halt by Bray Wanderers last time out, will have former Turner’s Cross favourite Daryl Horgan in their ranks but will be without injured captain Stephen O’Donnell who underwent surgery on a knee injury earlier this week and is likely to be out for a number of months. Patrick Hoban, John Mountney and Darren Meenan are in line to return to Stephen Kenny’s starting XI after being rested last weekend.

Sharing third spot with Dundalk on 20 points as the first round of games comes to a close, Shamrock Rovers are at home to Limerick, the match kicking off in Tallaght at 8pm.

The vistiors are smarting from a 3-0 home defeat by Sligo which brought a four-game unbeaten run to an end but manager Stuart Taylor says his team intend to “make amends” for that setback tonight.

“We’ve got a great team spirit here, so I don’t swap any team for my team when we’re all fully fit and all available,” he said.

Striker Craig Curran (hamstring) could return to the side, having missed the last two games, and centre-half Michael Leahy (groin) is also back in contention. But Danny Galbraith (hamstring) and right-back Shaun Kelly (knee) are set to miss out.

For Rovers, Eamon Zayed will be out for a number of weeks with the fractured elbow he sustained in their 3-2 win against Drogheda.

In the other Premier Division fixtures tonight, Keith Long takes his first game in charge of table-proppers Athlone Town as they host Bray Wanderers, while Bohemians entertain Derry City at Dalymount Park and UCD welcome Drogheda United to the Belfield Bowl.

In the First Division, meanwhile, it’s Galway FC v Waterford United, Finn Harps v Shamrock Rovers B (8pm) and Shelbourne v Longford Town (8pm).

Unless otherwise indicated, all matches kick off at 7.45pm.