Shamrock Rovers v Bohemians:HAVING PERFORMED strongly in Modena, where they narrowly failed to take a first-half lead that might just have rattled Juventus, then turned down an invitation from U2 to attend their concert in Turin last night, Shamrock Rovers were safely back in Ireland yesterday preparing for the visit by Bohemians to Tallaght.
Like their visitors, Michael O’Neill’s men are on a long unbeaten run in the league, one only punctuated by defeat in Europe. The bigger problem for the hosts, though, would appear to be that their European adventure has just ended and some might see that as a good time for one of their title rivals to catch them. Some . . . though not necessarily Pat Fenlon.
“It’s hard to know,” says the Bohemians manager as he weighs up the trip to south west Dublin. “They played well out there and they might come back disappointed or they might come back on a bit of a high.
“Whichever it is, we’re looking forward to the game. We like going out to Tallaght, we’ve been playing well and it should be a good occasion. Obviously with where we both are in the league,” he adds, “it’s a big game although I don’t really think it’s quite as big as people are making out.”
Fenlon is still without Steven Gray and Anto Murphy, both of whom have Achilles problems while Killian Brennan is a doubt after picking up a knock to his hip in the game against Manchester United on Wednesday night.
O’Neill has a couple of long-term absentees himself but there are likely to be changes from the side that played in Italy with the likes of Craig Sives, Chris Turner and Enda Stevens all looking likely to return after starting the Europa League game on the bench.
Of perhaps more interest, at least to neutrals, is whether Neale Fenn features for the first time since his controversial arrival at the club from Dundalk via a rather brief stint (several days) in retirement.
The former Bohemians and Cork City striker issued a statement through the players’ union yesterday claiming that the basis for his departure from Oriel Park had been “for reasons which were mutually beneficial to the club and myself”.
This is, to put it mildly, somewhat at odds with the versions of events put forward by both the club’s board and its manager, Ian Foster, who described the player’s behaviour as “callous” and “totally unacceptable” while his former employers have called on the FAI to launch an investigation into the matter so as to ensure all of its regulations were observed.
At the very least, in a week that a side representing the league was beaten with embarrassing ease by Manchester United, it comes across as a terribly half-baked bit of business.
