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Was there a bit of frustration after Tolka Park that we didn’t take the three points?

“Yes, there was frustration in the dressing room afterwards. The players knew that we had performed well and created enough opportunities to win the game, so the frustration was that we didn’t capitalise on what was good in the performance.”

Conor Kearns made good saves from Richie and Graham plus was Rory’s header a golden opportunity after such a quality ball in by Jack? 

“Kearns made two really good saves, and nine times out of ten Rory finishes the chance he had. We had four good opportunities in the game which we didn’t take, and there was some very good play leading up to those opportunities.”

Shelbourne worked hard and defended well but did you think there was more we could do to stretch them and break them down on the night?

“There were a few factors to that including when you’re playing against a team that doesn’t commit too many to the press. It’s hard to move the ball at the tempo that we like on the pitch there too. We created our opportunities while restricting them to six or seven touches in our box. A lot of the performance was good, we take that, and move on.”

Was the clean sheet a positive and something to build on, as well as the good news that Alan Mannus equalled the club record as a result of it?

“Yes, we pride ourselves on clean sheets, and while we haven’t had many of them at the start of this season, the balance on Friday was very good and we didn’t give up many opportunities. I’m delighted for Alan to have another clean sheet to his name and to equal the record.”

Simon Power had to come off with a hamstring injury at the Carlisle Grounds on Monday. How is he?

“Simon will be out for a couple of weeks and won’t be back tomorrow. We hope he’ll be OK after the break. It’s unfortunate timing for him as he did well against Cork after coming on. We just wanted to get some minutes into him on Monday, it’s an unfortunate setback, and we hope he’ll be fine soon.”

Any other injuries ahead of Friday?

“Dylan Watts and Markus Poom both picked up knocks against Cork, and we’ll look at them again before tomorrow. Ronan should be back next week.”

What do you make of St Pat’s this season so far?

“When you look back at their games against Bohs and Sligo, they will feel that should have gotten something out of those games, they had plenty of attacking threats there. They were well beaten by Dundalk but in the other two, they will feel that they created enough to get a point out of each.”

Pat’s have had a similar start in terms of their points tally. Will the game be important to both sides looking to begin a good run and quickly climb the table?

“We’re just five games in and the table will evolve over the course of the season. If we keep performing like we are and add the final piece of taking some of our opportunities, we’ll be fine.”

It’s St Patrick’s Day with an earlier kick-off time. Are you anticipating a great atmosphere, which these Pat’s games often have in Tallaght?

“I’m expecting a really good game. The pitch is perfect, we know it will be a very big crowd, and Pat’s on St. Patrick’s Day should be a great atmosphere.”