Cork City can end hopes of glory for Shelbourne

On course for the treble just a few short weeks ago, Shelbourne get a second crack at salvaging something from their season this evening at Dalymount Park when they and Cork City try once again to sort out the destination of this season's Harp Lager FAI Cup.

After last week's highly forgettable encounter, the message from both camps is that the replay will be better and so it had better be. It is hoped that the pitch will be much improved on last Sunday with the result, hopefully, that there will be a little more willingness on the part of the contestants to play the ball around on it.

City had the better of the original game and, says manager Dave Barry, would have driven the advantage home had their two strikers performed on the day. "Jason (Kabia) didn't play and he knows it but then neither did Johnny Glynn and there isn't much chance of winning a game like that when both of your frontmen have an off day."

For one of them, the price of their poor showing in the first game is likely to be a place on the bench the second time around. John Caulfield, who had been expected to start on the right wing last Sunday, did particularly well when he came on for Kabia during the second half and it is difficult to see him being omitted again, although whose place he will take is something about which Barry is unwilling to even hint.

"He certainly played well and that has given me a great deal of food for thought, but I won't be making any decisions until closer to the game when I'll be trying to keep the changes to a minimum."

With Stephen Napier doubtful due to a pulled muscle in his chest that could mean that a switch up front is dependent on the manager's ability to field an unaltered back four. If the southerners are without the former Dundalk player this evening they are well covered with Brian Barry Murphy available to come in at left full and last week's man of the match, Declan Daly well used to operating on the right side when the situation requires it.

The City midfield is unlikely to be tampered with. Kelvin Flanagan, Dave Hill and Patsy Freyne should all operate in much the same way as they did six days ago, while Ollie Cahill will be encouraged to get forward at every opportunity.

This time, however, the 22-yearold from Tipperary will have to contend with Dave Smith from the outset, Greg Costello having been ruled out for at least four weeks after losing the gamble he took when he lined out for the kick-off on Sunday despite continuing problems with a groin strain.

That could well be where the changes end for Shelbourne. Their manager, Damien Richardson admitted after the first game that some of his most important players had failed to perform and attributed the problem primarily to fatigue. Now, he says, after a more relaxed week in training, he is confident that everyone should be back closer to the top of their game.

"There were a variety of problems last week," he says, "but tiredness was certainly one of the things that prevented us from producing our best. That's not to take anything away from Cork, who played very, very well in the second half but we know we can do better than the way we performed and we'd be hoping to play the way we know we can in this game."

Smith's elevation to the starting line-up means that there will, at the very least, be one other change, with Brian Flood, Dave Campbell and Tony Sheridan all hoping to win a place on the bench, if not on the team.

Richardson has said repeatedly that he wants to be sufficiently impressed by Sheridan to be forced into playing the former Coventry City midfielder. His inconsistency has, the manager insists, been something that only the player himself can address. Given the scale of the problem, as described by Richardson after Sunday's game, it is difficult to envisage the situation having been transformed to such an extent over the intervening days that Sheridan is likely to figure prominently tonight and, if he doesn't, it is almost as hard to imagine him still being with the Tolka Park club when they play they return to competition after the summer break.

The fact that both Dave Campbell and Brian Flood have been out of the first team reckoning lately due to either illness or injury does, on the other hand, still make the highly talented if, admittedly, equally erratic 23 year-old the most logical choice for a place in the 14-strong squad.

In the end, though, Shelbourne's hopes of a third Cup are likely to rest with the ability of the their centre halves to make more of an impact in the air at set pieces than they did last time out and of their centre forwards to cause more problems when the ball is on the ground.

If Declan Daly, Derek Coughlan, Gareth Cronin and whichever other player completes the back four manage, instead, to cancel out the threat as effectively as they did again and provide the base on which City can construct their attacking moves then City might yet complete a miserable hat-trick for Shelbourne.