Bohemians will host Dundalk on Friday night fresh off a couple of victories, and manager Keith Long wants his side to go into the game with a relaxed frame of mind now that they’ve put some points on the board in recent games.
Long’s side had no wins in four following their second Dublin Derby win over Shamrock Rovers, but back-to-back wins over Sligo and Bray mean Bohs have a free hit at Dundalk in Dalymount.
Long said: "You have to be at your best against Dundalk but that's the same for every team that plays them as they're such a strong side. They play a fluent style of football as they always have under Stephen Kenny.”
"With respect to Sligo Rovers and Bray Wanderers, Dundalk are on another level to most teams in the league. But those two wins allow us to have a go at them tomorrow night.”
Paddy Kavanagh returns to the squad tomorrow night but both Keith Ward and skipper Derek Pender are considered doubts.
“On our day, if everyone gives a fully focused performance, we can put it up to anyone in this league,” continued Long.
"The pitch is looking well and if the weather is anything like today, it should be a great evening for football.”
"We hope we have a big crowd here to support us and we want to go out and do ourselves justice in front of our home supporters."
He’s also talking up his strikers ahead of the big game, “Dinny scored twice against Pat's three weeks ago although one of them was mistakenly attributed to Kevin Devaney at the time. Now he's got another one against Bray. Strikers can be confidence players so three goals to his name in recent weeks will do Dinny no end of good.”
"The same goes for Stokesy. He's an excellent talent but sometimes he needs to trust his instinct a bit more and pull the trigger.”
"He believed in himself and did just that against Bray. Nothing beats putting the ball in the net and that goal will give him a big lift too."
As for Dundalk, their manager Stephen Kenny had some disappointing news, “We have been dealt a huge blow with the news that John Mountney has been ruled out with a high grade medial knee ligament injury. It means that he is out for the next 6-8 weeks.”
Dundalk have suffered major injuries this season, with Sean Gannon, Stephen O’Donnell, Karolis Chevdukas all on the treatment table. Kenny said, “The four serious injuries we got have been all impact injuries. Sean Gannon broken ribs, Stephen O’Donnell broken leg, Karolis Chvedukas has a complicated ankle injury and now John with the medial knee injury.”
“It has been challenging for the team. We have had a lot of things go against us this season but the players have responded brilliantly. They have shown the right attitude.”
One bit of good new for the Lilywhites is that defender Daniel Cleary returns to the squad following suspension.
Following their superb win at the Brandywell on Monday night to put themselves two points clear of Cork, Kenny is confident that his side have enough pace about them to win in Dalymount. He said, “We are going up against a good Bohemians team with a good attitude. I think that the players have shown real determination.”
“We have real pace and it gives us a real attacking threat. We have a lot of pace in the team and it gives us the ability to break quickly. It’s a real asset to us and it has helped us score a lot of goals recently. It has helped with our results and we want to continue in that vein. ”
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