Away ticket’s for Friday’s clash in Richmond Park are SOLD OUT. The match will be shown live on RTE, coverage from 7.45 pm

Last Sunday we saw a five-goal and five-star performance from the team against Drogheda with five different scorers. We mentioned before how the goals are so well spread throughout the team, so how happy were you with the performance after a three-week gap in games?

“We were delighted. You’re never quite sure how that gap will affect the players’ mentality, physically, the flow in how we play, so you’re never quite sure how it affects all of that. You don’t want a three-week break, but we had to deal with it. I felt that the players, and you could see this in training last week, were in a good place. I was delighted with the performance.”

Trevor’s injury forced us to play the last twenty minutes against Drogheda with ten men. How impressed were you that we kept our foot on the pedal even then and worked hard without the ball to make sure Alan kept a clean sheet?

“If you could be critical of us the last few years, one area we could really improve upon is when we have teams on the ropes. We need to go for them and that was a really pleasing aspect of the Drogheda game. We had them on the ropes and we kept our foot down, we kept going for them. Whether it was eleven men or ten, it was really positive and that’s something we need to bring into our game going forward. It was really pleasing to see that.”

The night before the Drogheda game, you were able to attend the 20-year celebrations at the Shamrock Rovers Members Club Gala Event. There was a nice photo of you and Stephen McPhail in conversation with our former manager and Rovers and Ireland legend, John Giles, you discussed last weekend how John has been analysing Rovers games for a while. How helpful has this been for you and the staff and team?

“We are very lucky to have someone like John Giles in our corner and someone like that to lean on and from whom to ask advice. He’s someone who takes a great interest in what we do. He’s been up to Roadstone a few times, I meet John quite regularly so we’re very lucky to have someone of that standing to call on. He’s one of Ireland’s greatest-ever footballers. He managed and played the dual role very young too, so he can relate to me.
The Gala night was a brilliant night. Very well done to the members, it was brilliant to see everyone in the room.
It was amazing for me, there were overseas members who travelled back from Australia to be there, people who came from Cork and do so every week for games who are long-time members.
It’s incredible when you see that, and get to hear their personal stories, everyone in the room had a story of the different stages of the club’s history and that was nice to hear.
We had great speakers too with Michael O’Neill, Pat Byrne, John Giles and Gary Twigg so I really enjoyed the night to mark a special occasion.“

This weekend starts with another Dublin Derby. St. Pat’s are still a close second in the league and are preparing for a cup final. A win guarantees us the title, will we be going all out to win tomorrow night?

“Yes, of course. We know a point does it for us considering our goal difference, but we’ll go there to win the game. That doesn’t change whether we’re home or away. We know Pat’s have some good players and that hasn’t changed all year and Jon Daly has done a really good job since he’s gone in. It’s a Dublin Derby and we’re ready to go and we’ve built up to this point since the first day in pre-season. There will be nothing on our mind other than winning and getting the three points.”

How is Trevor Clarke after last week and any other injuries to report?

“Trevor is out tomorrow and obviously Jack (Byrne) is out for the end of the season, but other than that everyone is back and Graham Burke is available after suspension last week.”