Super Blues face Shels at Dublin’s Tolka Park

NEXT Friday night Limerick FC take on Division One leaders Shelbourne at Tolka Park (kick-off 8pm) with Pat Scully’s Super Blues now chasing their third consecutive league win.
Last weekend Limerick FC beat Athlone Town 6-1 while they preceded that impressive display with a 2-1 win over Mervue United. Manager Pat Scully, as you would expect, was pleased by the five-goal margin of victory.
“It was a good result and our finishing was very clinical,” Pat Scully told Leader Sport this week.
“To be honest I don’t think we played as well as last week against Mervue United. We created chances and to be fair to the lads they put them away very well.
“That’s two good results now, we’re playing well and now we must push on and continue to improve.”
For prolonged periods of this season Limerick FC have failed to score despite dominating games, a weakness which has certainly cost the club league points.
“Yeah, all season we’ve been creating loads of chances,” explained Pat Scully, “but we’ve been missing them and our results have suffered as a result of that. We were very clinical on Friday night. The lads we brought in during the (transfer) window, Stephen O’Flynn and Daryl Kavanagh especially, have made a huge difference. We’ve got a good balance and a good mix there now. John (Tierney) and Stephen (O’Flynn) are playing well up front and with Daryl (Kavanagh) and Shane (Tracy) on the wings we really are a handful for anyone.”
While captain Pat Purcell and striker Paul Cummins are still injured centre-half Brian O’Callaghan has returned to the club to give Pat Scully a timely boost ahead of the Super Blues’ clash with the league leaders on Friday night.
Shelbourne lead the league, two points clear of UCD, and have only been beaten on three occasions this season - against Sporting Fingal, UCD and most recently against the Wexford Youths during which game Kilcornan striker Garry Sheahan scored both goals for Wexford.
Limerick FC and Shelbourne have met twice already this season with Shels winning one-nil on both occasions - on March 27 Anto Flood got the winner at Tolka Park while on June 19 David Cassidy pounced for a late goal to give Shelbourne another win at Jackman Park.
Despite those two defeats Pat Scully believes his developing side can earn a result at Tolka Park: “It’s a great game for us. Shelbourne are probably the best team in the league, but Tolka Park is a great place to go and play football.
“If we play like I know we can, if we do that, then I know we can get a good result.
“There’s no doubt in my mind about that.”

Brian McDonnell