Shelbourne v Derry City (Premier Division)

While picking up four points in the two games that followed Shelbourne’s humiliating 3-0 opening day defeat at home to Dublin rivals St.Patrick’s Athletic could be viewed as something of a steady response from Damien Duff’s Shels, the truth is the Reds have underwhelmed so far this season with pre-season worries about a lack of firepower up front appearing to be well founded points of view.

Shelbourne were 2-0 winners away to a poor Drogheda United side last Friday with both of Shels goals coming from dreadful mistakes in the Drogs backline, as opposed to any clever creative play from the visitors, who created little to nothing of real note on their own in this game, or in Monday’s dour 0-0 draw away to UCD.

Meanwhile, Derry City manager, Ruaidhri Higgins has the opposite problem on his hands with the former Irish Football senior team coach having an embarrassment of riches to choose from in the final third but his teams backline do look slightly vulnerable at times. A scoreless draw at home to Sligo Rovers may not have been exactly what the Candystripes had hoped for on Monday night but a clean sheet may help boost the confidence of the defence and in particular young goalkeeper, Brian Maher who has endured a shaky start to life between the posts at the Brandywell Stadium.

While Shelbourne carry plenty of star power off the pitch with former Irish internationals Damien Duff and Joey O’Brien in the dugout, they clearly don’t have the same level of player on the pitch as Derry City will on Friday. As a result, Shelbourne are likely to continue with their conservative approach to recent games in the hope they can soak up any Derry pressure and potentially find a moment of weakness on the counter attack. With the Foylesiders having failed to find a way past Ed McGinty in the Sligo Rovers net last time out, it may pay to air on the side of caution slightly here but certainly, if Derry City want to be genuine title challengers then these are the sort of games they need to be winning

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St.Patrick’s Athletic v Shamrock Rovers (Premier Division)

It’s fair to say, things have not yet gone to plan for St.Patrick’s Athletic this season. An encouraging display in the traditional season curtain raiser, the Presidents Cup, was followed by a resounding 3-0 opening day win away to Dublin rivals, Shelbourne. However, back-to-back defeats against Sligo Rovers and Bohemians have followed with the Saints weak rearguard already being exposed at this fleeting stage of the new campaign.

Certainly, the last team you want to face in such circumstances is the league champions, Shamrock Rovers, who have scored three goals in two of their three league matches so far while they are yet to draw a blank in front of goal this season, despite a disappointing away defeat to Derry City.

Irish international, Jack Byrne was at his devasting best in Monday’s 3-1 win at home to Drogheda United and if he is given even a blade of grass of freedom at Richmond Park then he could win this game on his own.

Stephen Bradley made a number of changes last time out in order to rest and rotate during this double game week with Sean Gannon in particular, a player who took his chance and scored a fine goal from the right wing back position. It will be interesting to see if those players who impressed on Monday are rewarded with more minutes here or if Bradley is sticking to a best XI with rotations only when required.

The fact someone like Sean Gannon, one of the leagues most decorated ever players, is in a position where he has to settle for a rotation role tells you all you need to know about the incredible strength and depth of the Hoops squad, it may be arguably one of the strongest LOI sides ever assembled.

St.Pat’s boss, Tim Clancy will be aware of that dangers that this fixture could bring, a heavy home defeat could be disastrous for the new gaffer, so don’t be surprised if he tries to put some shackles on his side who, to borrow a horse racing term, have been running far too freely this season. They need to find a better balance between all-out attack and defence.

Including the Presidents Cup, four of the last five H2H meetings between these Capital City rivals have seen both team’s score but St.Pat’s have failed to win any of those games. I’m expecting a similar outcome here.

Finn Harps v Bohemians (Premier Division)

Had Finn Harps taken their chances in the first half against Dundalk on Monday night, it could have been a very different game. However, the simple fact is they didn’t and it’s likely Harps won’t come up against such a generous back four for quite some time again.

Dundalk were horrific at times on Monday night, yet still managed to run out comfortable 3-0 winners with Finn Harps creating little through their own industry. Instead, the majority of their chances were presented to them via unforced Dundalk errors and their failure to capatilise was always likely to prove fatal in the second half, and it did.

Bohemians arrive into this one off the back of a brilliant 1-0 shutout against St.Pat’s and there is lots to like about the team Keith Long has built this season. Stephen Mallon scored the winner on Monday night having missed large chunks of last season through injury after signing for Bohemians. Mallon could be like a new signing for the Gypsies this term. Kris Twardek has put on a couple of assists of late while Promise Omochere is stepping up to the plate, following Georgie Kelly’s departure.

All in all, it’s looking good for Bohs at this early stage of the season. However, the Gypsies will need no reminder of how difficult a trip to Finn Park can prove, having lost both of their league games in Donegal last season.

Having watched Finn Harps in the flesh on Monday and having looked back on their previous games this season, they look very limited in their approach. They are a typical Ollie Horgan side, physical, well organised and hard to beat, particularly at home but there’s a good feeling surrounding this unbeaten Bohemians team at present and I fancy them to avoid the kind of issues that dogged them at this venue last season.

Cobh Ramblers v Treaty United (First Division)

Cobh Ramblers supporters were made to wait to see their team in action this season, after their opening game away to Longford was called off. Rams supporters certainly got value for money when they did eventually get to see their team in action as a five goal thriller at home to Wexford was played out in front of a healthy crowd.

However, defeat was the eventual outcome as Wexford came from behind with a flurry of late goals to down the Rams 3-2. Ramblers manager, Darren Murphy must have been frustrated by the open nature of his teams defence at such a crucial point of the game with Wexford not having to work that hard for their goals.

Remember, this was a Wexford team that had been hammered 5-1 the week before by Treaty United, it’s fair to say the signs early on are not good for Cobh Ramblers supporters.

Treaty United are the visitors to St.Colman’s Park on Friday with the Limerick side also suffering the frustration of a match postponement with their intended first home tie of the new season against Athlone Town called off last week. Whether or not that week off has an impact here, one factor that could unfortunately prove a great leveler is the St.Colman’s Park pitch. Tight and extremely dry and bobbly, visiting teams may forgo any ideas of playing tika-taka on this surface but thankfully, Treaty United are a side with the ability to mix up their approach and they should have enough to pick up another win on the road here. However, with the pitch in such bad nick, we’ll air slightly on the side of caution

Wexford FC v Athlone Town (First Division)

Having lost 5-1 on the opening night at home to Treaty United, Wexford bounced back with a thrilling 3-2 win on the road against Cobh Ramblers last time out. While it’s very early in the year to be drawing conclusions on certain sides, such results and performances suggest Wexford may come up short against the more established sides in the division but may have enough quality to outgun the teams towards the bottom.

Again, while it’s early to be making end of season predictions, Athlone Town look a fairly good contender for the wooden spoon which suggests this is a good opportunity for Wexford to follow up on Friday’s win.

However, the leaky nature of this Wexford FC side would make you think twice about backing them with any great conviction, but the fact Dinny Corcoran got a couple of goals last time out makes you think the veteran striker could fill his boots against some of the lesser sides in the division this season.

With 14 goals being shared across 4 games between these two teams last season and the fact both teams have shipped five in a game already this season, there should be goals here. One of the meetings last season was a 4-4 draw and it would be no surprise to see a crazy scoreline like that emerge again.

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