Rodgers wants first Cross shutout

Dundalk goalkeeper Gary Rogers has already hit a few landmarks this season but he is aiming to mark his latest with a clean sheet at Turner’s Cross tomorrow night.

Should he line out against Cork City as expected, then it will be the 36-year-old’s 100th league appearance for Dundalk since joining from Sligo Rovers at the start of the 2015 season.

In 99 league starts to date, Rogers has kept an impressive 55 clean sheets for Dundalk but he has never managed one at Turner’s Cross, while his only league win at the Munster venue was three years ago this week.

That game on April 24, 2015 saw Richie Towell score either side of half-time to cancel out Billy Dennehy’s opener.

Since then Stephen Kenny’s men have played four league matches in Turner’s Cross, losing two and drawing two.

However, after shutting out John Caulfield’s side already this season when the Louth men won 1-0 at Oriel Park in March, Rogers is confident his side can do it again away from home this Friday.

“We’ve had a couple of good nights down there. Cork have turned the tide in recent times in terms of results but in my first year and the year before I arrived I know our record against Cork was very good,” he said.

“Hopefully that win that we had earlier on in the season will kickstart a good run for us against them. It’d be nice to mark my 100th league game with a clean sheet but most importantly it’s about getting the win. If we can win down there it would really set us up nicely for the rest of the season.”

Rogers was beaten for the first time this season against Derry City last Friday with Aaron McEneff’s 42nd-minute penalty being followed up with an Eoin Toal goal two minutes into the second half.

“Generally this season when we’ve scored we’ve won so it’s disappointing to concede a couple of goals,” he said.

“Overall I know Derry are a good side but I felt we probably should have won the game. It just wasn’t to be but maybe it’s a valuable lesson going into the Cork game that we have to brush up on things, make sure we’re getting them right and let’s start showing that ruthless streak again that we had from the start of the season.”

There is no better game as far as Rogers is concerned to focus the mind than a trip to Turner’s Cross.

It’s a great game. We always look forward to playing against Cork. To go down there and pick up three points we’ll have to put in a really good performance but we’re more than capable of doing that.

"When we draw a game like we did last Friday it nearly feels like a defeat so we’ll be keen to put that right next weekend,” said Rogers.