Tallaght Stadium hosts the second round of the Battle of the Rovers as the Bit O’Red head to the capital to take on Shamrock Rovers this evening, kick-off 8pm.
This will be our final away day before the season’s summer break in two weeks as Rovers head to the home of the champions for the first time since the concluding game of last season.
John Russell’s side head to Dublin looking for a first win in five and certainly face a challenge against a Hoops team who have only dropped points on home ground once this year. Stephen Bradley’s charges were also the victors when these sides first met at the Showgrounds back in March.
Rovers head up the N4 on Friday without the full quota of players. As of this morning, Seb Quirk, Conor Reynolds and Jad Hakiki are yet to recover from knocks. While Archie Meekison will miss out having been withdrawn against Galway. Winger Ryan O’Kane returned to action in that defeat to Galway last weekend and is expected to be part of the match-day squad once again on Friday.
Trips to Tallaght Stadium over recent years haven’t been overly successful for Rovers bar the odd outing. Sligo have only won once at the Dublin 24 venue since 2021, that being the final game of last season.
Previewing the game, Russell is aware of the size of the task ahead for his players but wants his squad to embrace the challenge of facing the table toppers.
“We all know the performance against Galway just wasn’t good enough”, he reflects.
“The dressing room was really hurt after it. We gift-wrapped the goals and our levels were nowhere near where they should have been. To lose to a local rival in that manner really stung but we’ve moved on.
“We’re heading to Tallaght Friday and at the moment, there’s no harder place to go. But it’s also a great opportunity for us to make up, in some way, for what happened last weekend. To show what we can do.
“It will be a huge test for us. They have the strongest squad in the league, some of the best young talent and some proven winners. So what better test for us? We’re looking forward to getting out there.
“We won’t be going there as favourites, but it was the same at the end of last season. Circumstances are of course different this time around but I don’t think many outside of Sligo would have backed us to beat them on the last day of last season and we did. There was big pressure on the game and we came through it. We’ll see what happens this time around.”
David Goulden