Galway hoping for a repeat upset against Derry

In the absence of a single second-round game between two Premier Division sides, Galway United have the opportunity to make the headlines in the Carlsberg FAI Cup once again this evening when they take on Derry City in a repeat of last season's third-round match.

Last summer it was United who came away as 2-0 winners but, under Peter Hutton, City have been going well of late. And, as participants from both sides of the fence admit, revenge will be high on the agenda of the visitors to Terryland Park this evening.

A week ago Galway's Conor Frawley and Derry's Alan Murphy watched together from the stand as United drew with Dundalk, but tonight the former Galway striker will be marked by his ex-team-mate and the outcome of that tussle could have a major impact on the course of the game.

"I had six good years at Galway," says Murphy, "and in one way it will be strange to go back, but you just have to put that to one side and go out and do your best for your club.

"What will be different from my point of view," he adds, "is that most of the rest of the lads will be looking to avenge last season's defeat but that won't make much difference to me."

United manager Tony Mannion is well aware of the threat posed by the young striker who has scored four goals in the last five weeks, a run that has helped his team go five games unbeaten.

With virtually a full-strength squad to choose from, however, Mannion is hoping that his players can once again produce the sort of heroics that have made them one of the most consistent performers in this competition during the past 10 years.

"We've done well in the last few years," Mannion added," and still feel we were unlucky not to make the final last year when we were beaten by the team that went on to win the competition.

"It's all the more interesting this year because of Alan going to them in the close season and Alan Gough coming back here, so I'm sure there'll be all sorts of personal little battles going on but we feel that on our day we're a good side and there's no reason why we can't beat them.

"Another run in the competition would be great for the club, it would lift everyone and could help us to go on and challenge for promotion in the league too."

While Frawley returns from suspension for the game his brother Ronan is ruled out of the game due to a ban. Suspension also deprives City of captain Eamonn Doherty.

There are several possible shocks amongst this evening's games with even Dublin City skipper Tony O'Connor admitting that Monaghan United will view the struggling Premier Division side as potential victims.

"We haven't been playing badly but it's only natural that they'll look at the position we're in and feel we're beatable," he says. "All I can say is that we'll look to make it very difficult for them."

In other years Wayside Celtic might have fancied their chances at St Patrick's Athletic but the shift in the season has left them preparing for the game while in the early stages of pre-season training and manger Peter Lennon concedes that summer football has undermined the prospects of non-league sides making an any real impact on the competition.

"It's supposed to be a central part of what was considered romantic about the cup," said Lennon, "but if you ask me the move to summer soccer has done huge damage to this competition without actually doing any substantial good at all for Irish football.

"If you look at the FA Cup in England last season it made a huge comeback because of the way it was marketed, but one of the biggest stories in the whole competition was the meeting of Arsenal and Farnborough. It caught the imagination of people and that's what you want from a cup, it's the whole point of it really."

Lennon must cope this evening without two suspended players, Ian Callaghan and Damien O'Neill, which he concedes would have been the case whenever the game took place. But a further three, George Webb, Stephen Martin and Chai Thain, are on holidays while the rest of his panel, who haven't played competitively since clinching the Leinster Senior League title at the start of June, have just two of five weeks pre-season training under their belts going into the game.

"Don't get me wrong," added Lennon, "we'll still be chomping at the bit but you would expect St Patrick's, even with all the problems they're having at the moment, to do a professional job in the circumstances and the odds just seem to be stacked against us."

St Patrick's manager John McDonnell, though, has a long list of injury problems for tonight's encounter, with Barry Prenderville, Paul Osam and Keith Fahey amongst those either injured or suspended.

Elsewhere, Waterford United will look to put their erratic form of recent weeks behind them when they take on first division outfit Sligo Rovers at the RSC this evening but Wayne Fitzgerald, John Frost and Vinny Sullivan are all absent through injury for the hosts while striker Paul McTiernan will miss the game for the visitors.

Athlone Town's meeting with Tullamore at St Mel's Park, meanwhile, will be the first competitive meeting between the sides for 27 years.