League Cup Final Preview

It is with all certainty a game that will give Derry City their record fifth League Cup title, three of which have come this decade. Their 3-1 win over Athlone Town at St Mel's Park this day last week has all but ended the First Division side's chances.

Jimmy Greene's men were given some brief hope last week when Colm Holohan scored after just three minutes, although it was all downhill from there as Eamon Doherty, Liam Coyle and Andy Moran combined to give the visitors a significant cushion going into this second leg.

"Sure, it's going to be very, very hard," admits Greene, "but we have to attack and hopefully get another early goal to give us some chance. We're all looking forward to it and want to do ourselves justice."

They started with a 3-4-3 formation last week, but one suspects Athlone can not be so cavalier here. "I think we did very well in the first half last week," adds Greene, "and had Derry under a lot of pressure. We also performed well against Limerick on Friday. Unfortunately, Athlone remain without the scoring abilities of Colm Fortune, who is still out with a back injury, although Alan Kelly returns to give an extra option at midfield. Still, they'll need a lot more than that to overcome Derry.

There are some injury worries for the hosts, with Paul Hegarty and Liam Coyle (knee) and John McIvor (hamstring) the most doubtful, yet manager Kevin Mahon still has every reason to be quietly confident.

"We will have to guard against that early goal," he says, "but if we get another, then we can probably settle and entertain the crowd a little."

Six 20-year-olds finished the last game for Derry, and for the majority of this current Derry squad, the Cup would mark their first honour. And in front of the home crowd, they won't get a better chance to claim it.