Through Irish Eyes: Dundalk ready to deny table-toppers Cork
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It’s a big weekend for Dundalk as a loss at home to Cork City would all but hand the league title to the Rebels.
A win for Stephen Kenny’s men wouldn’t significantly shorten the gap at the top but it would be quite a big psychological blow.
With a number of English clubs reportedly interested in the services of the league’s top scorer Seán Maguire in the not too distant future, there won’t be a better chance for Dundalk to unsettle the Leesiders’ nerves.
Cork City are an excellent team, they really work hard as a unit and manager John Caufield deserves a lot of praise for their excellent start to the season.
Magurie is key to their success though and losing him would be very tough to stomach. Not only that, his potential departure would put pressure on the rest of the squad for goals.
Regardless of departures, I don’t think it’s likely that Cork will throw away such a big lead. I also don’t think they are unbeatable and I would suggest that Oriel Park against their title rivals would be the most likely place for their first loss of the season.
You would think that St. Patrick’s Athletic would be dreading this Dublin derby being in relatively poor form with desperate defending and not much spark going forward. Yet the two derby games they’ve played so far this year have gone their way.
Their opponents Shamrock Rovers come in to this game patchy as ever. They eased to victory against Bray Wanderers midweek but before that their fifth red card of the season cost them any chance of picking up points against the league leaders.
Unsurprisingly, Rovers have the league’s worst discipline record and despite dominating games, lose their cool at vital moments.
The main concern for a lethargic St Pat’s defence will be the wide threats of both Brandon Miele and Clarke who are in fine form.
Rovers should win this but I’m looking for value and they are just not reliable enough to back for a big win here. So as big as the gulf in class between these two teams is at the moment, 9/1 for St. Pats to win & Both Teams To Score is probably a bit too big for a derby game.
Having found a bit of form recently and won the reverse fixture in Drogheda United 1-0, Bohemians should replicate that result at home at Dailymount Park.
With eight goals, Dinny Corocan is by a long way their most valuable player and seems to be finding form again having missed a few weeks with an injury.
Drogheda have failed to score in their last four games and are also the lowest scorers in the league.
Their away record is relatively poor having only beaten Galway and Finn Harps away. Bohemians at an odds-on price make very little appeal so take them to win to nil.
Good Luck!
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