It was another memorable derby win last Friday, especially with the sell-out crowd and celebrations afterwards. How would you sum up the team’s performance on the night?
“It was a brilliant night for the club in terms of the sold-out Tallaght and obviously the result. I think the players performed really well off the back of a heavy week. Parts of the game were really, really good, Bohs had one or two spells but in general, I thought we were very good.”
How did you think the goalless first half played out in terms of possession and chances created?
“Leon makes a good save. We had a couple of really good chances early on and then they had one or two late on. I think we controlled the game in the first half for the large majority of it, we were good but the final bit was a little off.”
Trevor Clarke was sick at half-time but you kept him on and sure enough, he makes an impact with yet another goal, being in the right place at the right time…
“Trevor was really struggling at half-time, he was sick but wanted to go and try and play for 15 or 20 minutes. He scored a really good goal and all-round he was good like he was up to half-time. That shows a maturity in Trevor and we score from it.”
Neil Farrugia was involved in both goals, how good was he for the second goal, ultimately nodded home by substitute Rory Gaffney who has a bit of a knack for scoring against Bohs now?
“Neil was excellent on the night, he created real problems for them and had a hand in both goals. We know Rory is a top player and we know what he brings to us, so it’s great for him to go and score.”
Was the game still in the balance in the second half prior to Rory’s goal as Bohs chased an equaliser and wanted a penalty for Dan Cleary’s tackle, and did we cope fairly well in that period?
“There was Dan’s tackle but other than that I think we didn’t look in any real danger. They pushed a lot more bodies forward, and they had to take more chances as we were winning the game but I felt we were quite comfortable and actually looked really dangerous in transition. We managed the game really well in the second half.”
UCD gave Shelbourne a few scares in a narrow defeat last week. Will Andy Myler try and make them hard to beat on Friday while also playing their traditional good style of football?
“Definitely. If you look at their recent games, they’ve been tight games. They have some really good young players and they’ll be honest, they’ll work hard and have a lot of energy. So you’ve got to respect that. They lost narrowly last week so we’ll know they’ll have no fear and they’ll come to play. We’ve got to be ready for that.”
We’re going from playing the team at the top of the table to the one at the bottom, so they might be different types of games in terms of expectation and intensity but are they approached with the same mentality to try and get another win?
“You have to respect UCD like you do anyone in the league. If you don’t respect any team in his league you’ll get beaten. It’s the same three points on offer tomorrow as there were last week, and next week so we’ll give UCD all the respect they deserve and we’ll be fully focused on our performance in the game.”
What’s the latest on Sean Kavanagh, Sean Gannon and Dylan Watts, and are there any new injuries or suspensions?
“The two Seans are back and we won’t see Dylan until after the break I imagine. Dylan is a long one, he has the same injury that Neil had last year so we have to be very careful with him. There are one or two knocks that we’ll need to have a look at but no suspensions.”