Final is more than a mere bonus for Kenny

FAI CUP: It Should probably be vaguely familiar territory to him at this stage, but a little short of 12 months after he led Longford Town to the last final of the now Carlsberg-sponsored FAI Cup final, Stephen Kenny is again finding out how different things can be amongst the full-time professionals as he prepares Bohemians for this Sunday's clash with Dundalk at Tolka Park.

"A year ago," he recalls, "the week before was spent trying to get everybody together and making sure people were available for the preparations. In a way, that sort of added to the whole sense that we were building up to something big, there isn't that sense this time because the players are together all of the time.

"They had a game at the weekend, today they're on a day off and tomorrow it's back to training as usual."

But, for quite a few of the players at the club, it will be far from an ordinary week. The size of the squad he inherited, combined with the increased cost of retaining certain key players, has meant that cut backs in other areas have become essential.

The club currently has 25 first-team squad members and for next season Kenny must trim that number to 18, of whom, he intends, several will be new arrivals. Perhaps 10 of those busy preparing for Sunday's final at Tolka Park this morning are half way through their last week at Bohemians.

"I still have a few lads to talk to," he admits, "and the future of one or two is still up for grabs, but the reality is that I have to offload big time. Brian Shelley, Trevor Molloy and Dave Hill are leaving of their own accord, but there will have to be a few more, there are some hard calls to make but that's part of the job."

It's possible that one or two will decide they want to go when they are left out on Sunday and Kenny admits that keeping everybody happy is, at least, a problem he won't find so difficult to get around after the close season.

"Obviously, having players to choose from is good, I don't want to sound like I'm complaining, but there is a down side too if people become demoralised because they don't feel that they're involved.

"Over the past few weeks I've chopped and changed a lot, trying to give as many of the players as possible a sense that they're in with a shout and I genuinely don't think that they know what the team will be. That's makes for a good week of training, but I'm sure one or two of the lads will be disappointed on Sunday, that's inevitable I suppose."

Even getting to a cup decider must have struck most of them as unlikely back in December when Kenny took over at Dalymount and, while he admits that his priority was always to start preparing for next season, the progress the team has made in this competition has, he insists, been more than a mere bonus.

"It's important because, while you are trying to think about the future, you still need to persuade the better players that it's a team worth staying with, that you've got what it takes to win things." Playing in Europe again is important to everybody at the club too, though Kenny maintains that there has been no pressure from within Bohemians on that score.

"The pressure," he says, "is only from within the squad because of the level of expectation there is within the squad. This weekend," he adds, "we'll see how everybody copes with it."

Shelbourne officials last night conceded that hopes that a deal might be hammered out between the club and St Patrick's Athletic whereby the league might be decided by way of play-off games were now all but dead.

FAI general secretary Brendan Menton said on Monday that if no arrangement had been reached by last night then he felt the time would have run out for the idea and it appears that there was no progress whatsoever made over the course of yesterday.

Brian Kerr, meanwhile, has named a squad of 22 under-19 players for next week's European Championship qualifier against the Netherlands at Turner's Cross.

Five players including Newcastle's Stephen Brennan, Keith Gilroy of Middlesbrough and West Ham's Daryl McMahon miss the game through injury.

However, the likes of Seán Thorntan, Jonathan Daly and Stephen Capper are all expected to be available for the game.

UNDER-19 SQUAD: Wayne Henderson (Aston Villa), Brian Murphy (Manchester City), Saul Deeney (Notts County), Clive Ross (Bolton Wanderers), Mark Rossiter Sunderland), Stephen Kelly (Tottenham Hotspur), Stephen Capper (Sunderland), Patrick McCarthy and Stephen Paisley (both Manchester City), Graham Ward (Wolves), Seán Thorntan (Tranmere Rovers), Glenn Whelan (Manchester City), Keith Graydon (Sunderland), Ian Simpemba (Wycombe Wanderers), Fiachra McArdail (Derby County), Conor Gethins (Ross County), Glenn Lacey (Sunderland), Reinier Moor (Exeter City), Jonathan Daly (Stockport County), George Snee (Tottenham Hotspur), Stephen Elliott (Manchester City), Adrian Deane (Charlton Athletic).