LIMERICK FC are in Thomond Park on Friday 16 to take on UCD in the Airtricity League Premier Division and the hosts will be hoping to quickly put last week’s defeat to Drogheda United behind them.
Drogheda ran out 3-0 winners against Stuart Taylor’s side at Hunky Dorys Park, with Declan O’Brien, Gavin Brennan and Ryan Brennan on target. The result was indicative of Limerick’s up and down season, a week after the Super Blues impressively saw off Cork City, and Taylor was again left rueing defensive errors and penalty decisions.
“It’s still disappointing to have lost the game and to have lost so many goals in that one game. I think up until that game we had only lost once in the league by more than one goal previously and that was at St Pat’s.
“In terms of possession I felt that we were doing fine. You can’t play excellent in every single game but we didn’t really come under pressure. There were spells in the game where we were comfortable but again it’s through individual errors that we lost two goals. The second goal was a tough one to take, especially when we started the second half so well.
“The third goal, the penalty, was the nail in the coffin. I’m not even going to go into whether it was a penalty or not. It’s clearly evident that it wasn’t, but again you’ve just got to get on with decisions.”
Limerick will face Martin Russell’s UCD side with a makeshift defence as Robbie Williams will be suspended and Shane Tracy, Pat Purcell and Brian O’Callaghan are all injured.
Taylor confirmed that new signing Cecil Nyoni is still awaiting international clearance, which he hopes will arrive by Friday, and he believes that UCD’s expansive style of play will make for an entertaining match at Thomond Park.
“It’s going to be a difficult game because UCD are a good footballing side. They move the ball really well and they’ve got a good philosophy to their game as well. It’s something Martin has had for years. He’s been in a position where he’s always lost his main players throughout the seasons but he’s always done well, so I know it’s going to be a difficult game.
“We have always played well against UCD and because they’re quite open the way that we are, it will be a very open and entertaining game for the supporters to see. We know our strengths over them and hopefully we can create as many chances as we created in the last game against them, but hopefully we can put them in the back of the net.”
