The allocation for away supporters in Richmond Park is SOLD OUT. The match will be streamed on LOITV.

Our excellent form and momentum continued last Monday, seeing off Cork City 4-1 in Tallaght. Was the late concession of the goal the only blemish in terms of performance?

“Yes, it was, it’s an annoying one. Ed McGinty had made two or three brilliant saves in the game to protect that clean sheet. Then we got done with a soft goal from our point of view. As I said after the game, that side of the pitch was really young at that point in time when it happened. You have to accept that the young players are still learning on the job and they’ll learn from that. We have to make sure that makes them better, that they’ll learn, and it doesn’t happen again. So, it was unfortunate we gave up the clean sheet.”

You’ve spoken often about the importance of the group, especially when Friday/Monday games come around and that you need all the group to be ready to play. Given you made six starting changes and the substitutions in the second half, that readiness was there for all to see.

“Yes, it was. That was the really pleasing aspect from Monday’s game. We made a lot of changes  and usually when you make that many changes, it can really disrupt the rhythm of the team. But I thought the players who came in were excellent. You could see they were ready to go, they brought their energy, their quality and the team didn’t miss a beat. The rhythm was there which was really pleasing to see. In here, we know how important it is to be ready because everyone is going to play their part at some point of the season. That was the really pleasing part from Monday, those who started and those who came on, looked ready to play.”

Michael Noonan completed ninety minutes. He did everything but score. For such a young player, his strength, bravery, football intelligence and selfless play bodes well.

“Michael was excellent on Monday. I think we all agree, including Michael, that he probably should’ve had a goal or two. But the most pleasing aspect from my point of view was that you could see how much he’s developing. Michael’s all round game is improving all the time. That’s down to Michael and the hard work he does every day. It’s down to him looking at other players and learning. We know the goals is the easy part for Michael, we know he scores goals. We know that’s there, so it’s just about improving every other aspect. You do forget at times that he’s young and that we need to allow Michael to develop, he’s doing that really well at the moment. I think you could see evidence of that against Cork. He caused them real problems with every aspect of his game. We just need to focus on that and keep developing every part of his game. The goals are the easy part for him.”

Once again, there’s a quick turnaround time for matches, as we face St Pat’s away tomorrow. Momentum is often key for a group, so everyone must be relishing being involved in a big Dublin derby between two in-form teams, with only one goal separating us in the league table.

“We’re really looking forward to it. We know St Pat’s are a good team. It’s a sold out game and a Dublin derby, two good teams going at it. It has the makings to be a really good game. The pitch at Richmond Park is always decent, so I’d imagine it will be a good footballing game. We’re in a good place, so we need to go there, stay focussed, do what we do, and look after our performance and everything else should be fine.”

We beat St Pat’s 1-0 in Tallaght in March with that fine Danny Grant solo goal. There wasn’t much between the teams in that game, but both teams since then seem to be playing to a higher level since that game.

“I think it’s only natural and normal that you get better as the season goes and we know that’s what happens with us. We’ve seen that, time and time again. The more games you get, the fitter and sharper you get. You go back, we only had one game in pre-season so we were always going to be playing catch-up in that regard. But in the last few weeks, I think you can see it’s starting to come. There are so many more levels to come from this team, but I think it’s only natural that as the season goes, the fitter and sharper you get.”

Unfortunately Danny Mandroiu’s hamstring went again against Cork and Gary O’Neill also came off against Cork. Do we know the extent of those injuries and will anyone else will miss the St Pats game?

“Both Gary and Danny will miss tomorrow. Gary is probably two weeks and we got good news with Danny. He’s probably two to three weeks as well which is good. We were expecting worse than that. He doesn’t feel too bad, so it could’ve been a lot worse. We were cautious with Danny coming back and we took our time so we just need to get this right as Danny is such an important player for us going forward. It’s frustrating for us all, but we need to make sure we get it right.”