League Preview: Cabinteely -v- Drogheda United

CABINTEELY         

Cabinteely host league leaders Drogheda United on Friday night as they look for their second win of the season.

Cabinteely's season began with back to back 1-0 defeats at home to Wexford and Cobh Ramblers.

Pat Devlin's side then travelled to Galway, falling to a 3-1 defeat to the Tribesman despite Joe Doyle's late consolation.

Cabinteely then fell to another 3-1 defeat last Friday, this time to UCD before losing 5-1 to Bohemians in the EA Sports Cup on Monday despite Sean Fitzpatrick giving his side the lead early on.

It's unknown if Cabinteely have any injuries going into this game but they will be without the suspended duo of Karl Byrne and Christian Lotefa, who were sent off against UCD and Galway respectively.

DROGHEDA UNITED

Drogheda United travel to Stradbrook on Friday to take on Cabinteely as they look to maintain their unbeaten start to the season.

This will be Drogheda's third league game in a week, having drawn 2-2 with Galway last Friday before beating Finn Harps 2-1 on Monday.

Those results came after an impressive start to the season which saw the Boynesiders beat Athlone 6-0 and Wexford 8-1.

Manager Tim Clancy felt the penalty awarded to Drogheda, which Gareth McCaffrey scored and the red card shown to Harps captain Keith Cowan, changed the game.

“I thought Harps had actually settled the better on the evening. We didn’t help ourselves by giving away a lot of needless fouls but to our credit we defended them well.

“Obviously the game changed on the red card and while I thought it was a penalty, maybe the red was a little bit harsh. Once we got ourselves into the lead, we never looked back and saw the match out really well,” Clancy told the club’s official website.

Drogheda pushed for a third goal but Harps defence was resolute, and the Donegal outfit found a late consolation in the last minute but it was too late to earn anything from the game.

“We’re a side who are always looking to score goals. We knew that a third goal, given the man advantage, would’ve killed Harps off but we didn’t get it.

“At the same time, we were mindful that if we open up too much we could’ve let them back into the game. It’s a fine balancing act. Harps didn’t go down lightly and made a real game of it late on,” Clancy said.

Despite Cabinteely's only league win so far coming against Athlone, Clancy is aware that they pose a threat and says his side will have to be at their best.

“They’re a very capable side. We’re on a good run at the moment and it’s important that we keep it going."

“There isn’t a lot between most of the sides in the First Division and we know that we’ll have to be at our best to get a good result,” Clancy said.

Lee Duffy and Colm Deasy will return from suspension for the trip to Stradbrook while Sean Brennan and Chris Lyons are doubtful through injury.

Referee: Rob Hennessy.

MATCH STATS

These sides have played each other five times in competitive competition with Drogheda winning three, Cabinteely winning 1 and the other game being a draw.

Drogheda have won every game played at United Park, a 3-1 victory in the FAI Cup in 2015 and a 4-0 and 1-0 victory in the First Division in 2016. The Boynesiders also won 5-1 in a pre-season friendly between the sides last season, also at United Park.

Drogheda have yet to win at Stradbrook, drawing 0-0 with Cabinteely in their first league meeting there in 2016 before Cabinteely got the upper hand the next time the sides played at Cabo’s home ground - thanks to Ben Hanrahan's first half goal.

BETTING

Cabinteely 16/5; Draw 13/5; Drogheda United 4/6.

PREDICTION

Cabinteely 1-3 Drogheda United

Cabinteely

Injured: Unknown.

Doubtful: Unknown.

Suspended: Karl Byrne, Christian Lotefa.

Drogheda United

Injured: None.

Doubtful: Sean Brennan, Chris Lyons.

Suspended: None.