Tullamore Town -v- Salthill Devon
Sat, Jun 05 2010
Salthill Devon will have the unusual pleasure of starting a game as
favourites when they travel to Leah Victoria Park on Saturday evening
for their FAI Cup third round tie with Tullamore Town. (Kick-off
7.30pm)
Salthill have had a turbulent start to their first season as a league club and have yet to leave the field with a win in the Airtricity First Division after fourteen attempts. Nor did they find any success in the EA Sports Cup, crashing out to ‘A’ Championship side Castlebar Celtic in the Preliminary Round.
Salthill Manager Emlyn Long will be hoping that Tullamore’s defence proves less resilient than those of the First Division. His side have scored in only one of their last six league games when Damien O’Reilly and Marcin Maranek found the net against Athlone Town.
Given Salthill’s poor league form Tullamore boss, Jimmy Greene, will have genuine hopes of guiding his team to the next round of Ireland’s blue riband tournament. Cherry Orchard and Fairview Rangers have already bitten the dust at Leah Victoria Park in the opening two rounds and FC Carlow suffered a similar fate in the Preliminary round of the EA Sports Cup. Greene’s men beat Carlow on penalties but found Monaghan United a bridge too far in the first round proper, losing 6-1 at Gortakeegan.
Striker Michael Hoey and attacking midfielder Hafeez Sholola have been the danger men for Tullamore so far this year scoring seven of the club’s ten Cup goals between them. Indeed, Sholola has scored in all three of the Town’s FAI Cup games and will fancy his chances of adding a porous Salthill defence to his list of victims.
Referee: C Fitzgerald
Extratime prediction: 2-2 Draw
Salthill have had a turbulent start to their first season as a league club and have yet to leave the field with a win in the Airtricity First Division after fourteen attempts. Nor did they find any success in the EA Sports Cup, crashing out to ‘A’ Championship side Castlebar Celtic in the Preliminary Round.
Salthill Manager Emlyn Long will be hoping that Tullamore’s defence proves less resilient than those of the First Division. His side have scored in only one of their last six league games when Damien O’Reilly and Marcin Maranek found the net against Athlone Town.
Given Salthill’s poor league form Tullamore boss, Jimmy Greene, will have genuine hopes of guiding his team to the next round of Ireland’s blue riband tournament. Cherry Orchard and Fairview Rangers have already bitten the dust at Leah Victoria Park in the opening two rounds and FC Carlow suffered a similar fate in the Preliminary round of the EA Sports Cup. Greene’s men beat Carlow on penalties but found Monaghan United a bridge too far in the first round proper, losing 6-1 at Gortakeegan.
Striker Michael Hoey and attacking midfielder Hafeez Sholola have been the danger men for Tullamore so far this year scoring seven of the club’s ten Cup goals between them. Indeed, Sholola has scored in all three of the Town’s FAI Cup games and will fancy his chances of adding a porous Salthill defence to his list of victims.
Referee: C Fitzgerald
Extratime prediction: 2-2 Draw
Simon O'Gorman
Simon O'Gorman began reporting for Extratime in 2010. He remembers Milltown and Flower Lodge and, back in the mists of time, saw Diego Maradona play at Lansdowne Road. He now lives in Co Kildare and reports on Shamrock Rovers among others. Simon can be contacted at sighmo@gmail.com