Rovers welcome students to Tallaght for cup clash

Shamrock Rovers welcome UCD to Tallaght Stadium on Saturday evening for their FAI Ford Cup fourth round tie, kick-off 7.00pm.

Ian Bermingham (knee) is manager Michael O’Neill’s only doubt, while Pat Sullivan is cup-tied and recent signings Alan Mannus and Ross Chisholm are both unavailable.

Hoops boss O’Neill said: “We’re waiting to see how Ian shapes up before the game, while both Alan and Ross are ineligible due to the 14-day rule covering players arriving from different jurisdictions.

“Other than that, Pat Sullivan is cup-tied due to his involvement earlier in the competition with Cork City – but we’ve still a strong squad to call on for this game.

“Obviously it’s a competition that we want to try and win. UCD will provide tough opposition as they’re a young side with lots of energy and they’re having a good season.

“They’ll be looking forward to coming to Tallaght Stadium to take on Rovers, but from our perspective we’ll be treating it like any other game and will prepare accordingly.”

UCD must plan without Ronan Finn, Seán Harding and Robbie Creevy for their first trip to Tallaght.

Chris Mulhall returns to bolster boss Martin Russell’s squad.

Russell said: "We're going there to play and compete and try to give as good an account of ourselves as possible.

“Rovers are one of the favourites for the cup and the league. They've a great record this season and Michael [O'Neill] has them achieving great results so we've got to give them that respect but we've also to try to express ourselves.

"We're looking forward to it, it's a good surface and it'll be good to play in front of the Rovers crowd."