Waterford United boss Jimmy McGeough is hoping that this evening's trip to Drogheda (kick-off 8 p.m.) will provide a fairer indication than last weekend's 4-0 defeat by Shelbourne of how his team is likely to cope with life in the Premier Division.
"I'd have to say that I didn't think there was any way that Shelbourne were four goals better than us on Friday night," said McGeough yesterday, "but you have to give them credit for defending well, which we certainly didn't.
"I suppose this game might give us a better idea of what we're up against, though," he added. "Drogheda came up last year and had to fight very hard to stay up. That's pretty much the position we're in now and it will be interesting to see what sort of standard they've achieved since winning promotion."
McGeough, who has been looking to sign a new goalkeeper since losing two during preseason, will again start with young Gavin Morris this evening. After a week in which he has weighed up the option of buying a number of players, he says that he is on the verge of recruiting a new goalkeeper and, while he declines to name the player involved, it is generally believed to be Dan Connor, the former underage international who is on the lookout for a move back home from Peterborough.
"It's funny," says McGeough, "I went from not being able to find one to having around six to choose from."
The last player to have come into the reckoning is believed to have been John Donegan, the 31 year-old Cobh Ramblers goalkeeper who is reported to have fallen out with Dave Hill.
For this evening's game, McGeough will have both team captain John Frost and close season signing Mark Clifford available after the pair served one-match suspensions, while Drogheda boss Harry McCue will be in a position to add Danny O'Connor, Mark Quinless and Derek O'Brien to his panel.
McCue will wait until close to kick-off time before deciding on the fitness of Pat Scully, but Mark Dempsey (foot), Aidan Lynch and Brian Kelly (both knee) all look to be out of the reckoning.
In the first major Dublin derby of the season, St Patrick's Athletic take on Shamrock Rovers (kick-off 7.45 p.m.) with both sides looking to improve on draws over the weekend. With Tony Grant described as having a 50-50 chance of playing for Rovers due to a hamstring problem, Liam Kelly could be in line for a start against the club he left during the summer.
Stephen McGuinness and James Keddy return from suspension for Liam Buckley as does Tony Bird for Eamonn Collins, while the home side's main doubt is Davy Byrne ( knee).
The plans for Bray Wanderers defender Maurice Farrell's testimonial have been unveiled, meanwhile, with organisers aiming to assemble an impressive array of international players for a game against a Bray selection in the Carlisle Grounds on June 12th.
Damien Duff, who has strong connections with Wanderers manager Pat Devlin, will captain the Irish team provided he avoids injury in the previous day's European Championship qualifier against Georgia while the likes of Shay Given, Kenny Cunningham and Steve Staunton have all indicated their willingness to play.
Farrell has played more than 280 times for Bray since joining the club in 1991.
Other events include a golf classic and, more remarkably, two performances by the London Theatre Company of Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood at Bray's Mermaid Theatre.
