Team News – Home v Derry City 22-06-26
Tickets remain on sale for Monday evening’s match in Tallaght Stadium. Kick-off is at 8pm.
We got back to winning ways on Friday with a 2-0 win away to Waterford. Was it a solid and convincing performance?
“I thought so. Some of our play was very good and we deserved it. Waterford had some moments in the game, we know they have good attacking players, which we always say. So, in the main, I thought we well deserved it.”
Before the game, you’d singled out Waterford’s front two attacking threat. A clean sheet suggests we coped with that really well and defended as a unit when we needed to.
“We did. They put a lot of balls in the box, from all areas of the pitch. You have to be ready for that and respect that. Waterford are good at that. We defended that aspect of it really well and that was pleasing. Waterford had scored four the week before, so it was good we limited them to very little in terms of opportunities.”
Dylan Watts scored our first goal on Friday and recently chalked up 300 appearances for Rovers. He has been a brilliant player for us.
“He has been and there is still so much in Dylan, he’s a really good age. He had an injury at the start of the year, but you can see he’s getting back to somewhere near his best level, that’s a great sign for us. He has 300, but hopefully with injuries allowing, there are so many more to come.”
On to the next game, Derry City make the journey to Tallaght Stadium. We won 1-0 at home early in the season and they reversed that score in their temporary home at Celtic Park. Despite the gap in points tallies, a similarly close game is on the cards.
“Yes, and it’s like all games in this league. You look at the game against Waterford on Friday, it’s first v bottom, it’s 1-0 to us for a large part of the game and they have some half chances off set plays. All the games in this league are like that. They are tight and competitive, and I expect tomorrow against Derry to be no different.”
Did everyone come out ok from Waterford?
“Graham Burke picked up a knock in the game, it was a bang on the knee. It stiffened up as the game wore on. It usually settles down and we’re hoping that it does after 48 hours and that Graham will be ok. Dan Cleary remains suspended for one more game which is tomorrow and we’re hoping he’ll be back for the Galway game or the next one after that. Maleace Asamoah is hopefully also back for Galway. Danny Grant and Victor Ozhianvuna will be out for a bit longer.”
