SHAMROCK ROVERS 

The Hoops welcome Waterford to Dublin 24 on Friday night (kick-off 8pm) for what will be, due to European and FAI Cup commitments, the last home league game in Tallaght until August. Rovers have faced the Blues twice this season and have won on both occasions.

The Hoops come into Friday’s game on the back of a deeply disappointing result and performance in the Dublin derby at Dalymount Park on Monday night which took the air out of the talk - from outside of the club - of the title race being over.

With their 2-0 victory Bohs inflicted only Rovers’ fourth defeat of the season and remarkably Alan Reynolds’ men have beaten the Hoops on three occasions – once in the Aviva, once in Tallaght and once in Dalymount. Rovers have just the one win and one draw against Bohs in their last seven league and cup matches.

While the Bohs fans at the end of the derby were singing ‘Shamrock Rovers, it’s happening again’, the Hoops supporters retorted with a chant of ‘Shamrock Rovers, top of the league’ as Stephen Bradley’s side remain nine points clear at the top of the table (but Bohs do have two games in hand). 

“There are a few things that went wrong, that’s clear to see,” said Bradley speaking to shamrockrovers.ie on the eve of the Waterford match. “We’ve obviously reviewed the game and we know why, so we need to make sure it doesn’t happen again. It’s unfortunate it’s in that type of game that it’s happened, but it did and we got punished.

“I think we’re all very emotional after the game and for a day or so afterwards, that’s quite normal. If you’re not emotional, I don’t think you care about it. We all care, everyone connected with the club cares, when we lose any game, but especially a Dublin derby. 

“So then it’s our job to take that emotion out of it as time goes on and really try to understand what happened. It’s something I feel we’re good at here, as a team, as a squad and as a club. So it’s something we’ve done and we’ve recognised what went wrong.

“The beauty of football is you always get another opportunity, there’s always another game around the corner. So that’s football and it gives you the opportunity to put things right and we have that against Waterford.”

“We know it’s a difficult game. We’ve watched them really closely all season because of Conan Noonan (on loan from Rovers to Waterford this season) They’ve been very good, especially since the new management under John Coleman have gone in. They’re playing slightly differently, so we need to be at our best to go and win the game.

“You could see it in the game they won last week (2-1 over Bohs on Friday) and they could’ve won by more goals. That’s the type of team Waterford are. They create opportunities and are playing well, so I’ve no doubt they’ll come to Tallaght and enjoy playing here. We need to make sure they don’t enjoy it too much and that we’re at our levels.”

WATERFORD

Should Waterford get a win in Tallaght on Friday, as they did last season, it could move them up to seventh in the table. It is John Coleman’s first visit to Dublin 24 with the Blues and they come into the game with four points from last weekend’s double header. 

First-half goals from Pádraig Amond and Conan Noonan gave the Blues a 2-1 win against Bohs  before Grant Horton and Amond again helped Coleman’s side pick up a point against the Damien Duff-less Shelbourne on Monday.

“Shamrock are a very good side,” said John Coleman speaking to his club’s media team.

“They’re in the luxury of being able to field any of 18/19 top players, so we’re of course going to be mindful of how they’re going to play. We’re expecting them to be a handful, but we’re not going there just to make the numbers up.

“We gave them a good game here [in May]. We should never have lost that game, so that’s fresh in our minds.”

Rovers won 3-1 in the RSC in that May match and in the previous meeting in Tallaght this season, the Hoops won 2-0.

Coleman can call upon Andy Boyle who made his first appearance since April on Monday night while Trae Coyle returned to the matchday squad for the first time in nine weeks against Shelbourne on Monday evening.

Referee: Paul Norton

MATCH STATS
Last season the Blues defeated the Hoops for the first time since November 2005.

Last season Waterford lost three times to the Hoops but did win in Tallaght. Rovers were victorious 2-1 at the RSC in both April and August. Waterford won 3-1 in Tallaght last May. The Blues lost 2-1 in Tallaght on the final night of the season. 

PREDICTION
2-0 home win 

Shamrock Rovers 

Injured: Adam Matthews 

Doubtful: None

Suspended: None

Waterford

Injured: None

Doubtful: None

Ineligible: Conan Noonan (as on loan from Shamrock Rovers)

Suspended: None