A long weekend

Tommy Dunne’s squad will be looking to bounce back from the concession of an injury-time equaliser away to Longford Town last Saturday night, but regardless of tonight’s result, they won’t have too much time to dwell on it as they then host Finn Harps in Eamonn Deacy Park in the Second Round of the EA Sports Cup on Monday (5.30pm).

“It certainly won’t be a Bank Holiday for us – we train Thursday, play Friday, train Saturday and Sunday and play again on Sunday, so we’ll be fairly busy,” Dunne told City Sport yesterday.

With two games in a four-day period, it allows the manager to give the majority of his squad a run over the weekend, but Dunne says he certainly won’t be sacrificing the desire for two wins when sitting down to pick his two match-day XIs.

“We need to win against Waterford, we have to get the three points, and as for the Finn Harps game, we are at homer in the Cup with a quarter-final place at stake, so we certainly won’t be treating that lightly,” he said.

Reflecting on last Saturday’s draw with Longford Town, Dunne said the disappointment of conceding an equaliser two minutes into injury time at the end of the game was quickly shelved, as the focus has to be on the games ahead, rather than on those played.

“It was very disappointing but you get over it – that’s football. I just felt they [Longford] were there for the taking, the three points were there for the taking, but we didn’t take them. We have got to start picking up the three points when they are on offer.

“On a positive note, I feel we are improving all the time – you could see the difference last Saturday form the first game of the season when they beat us in Eamonn Deacy Park. I think we scored two goals, but the problem this time was at the other end.

“They were two terrible goals to give away, the ball bouncing around in the box and they just got a finish on it. That’s the difference – we had the ball bouncing around their box a couple of times, and in other games as well, but we just couldn’t get the finish,” Dunne said.

There is a concern that the number of dropped points, even at this early stage, will come back to haunt the side at the end of the season given how tight the league is – just four points separate Wexford Youths in second and Shamrock Rovers B in seventh  – but Dunne takes a different view.

“There is that, but I look at it a different way – I think every team is capable of beating any team on a given day, which is why the league is so tight. Shelbourne were looking like running away with it, but then they were done in Wexford last weekend; and while we beat Wexford, I’m not so sure we deserved the three points.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.