Duff braced for tough Dundalk test | OneFootball

The Reds look to get back to winning ways in the League of Ireland Premier Division on Friday night, Oriel Park is the venue for the meeting with Dundalk FC. (7:45pm KO)

Goal differences separates the top two ahead of Friday’s round of fixtures. Derry City travel to Galway United.

After training at the AUL on Thursday, Shels boss Damien Duff delivered a positive injury update to ShelbourneFC.ie:

“The lads trained really well, the good news is Sean Boyd and Dean Williams are nearly back. Which is great it means we’ll go to Dundalk with almost a full squad to choose from. John O’Sullivan is available, he has been managing his pain over the last two weeks, but it just shows what a warrior John is, he’ll make himself available and play through it. The extra week has been good for him.”

“The sessions have been really upbeat and high-energy, with top quality, now it’s just about taking that into tomorrow and delivering what I know they’re capable of. There’s no hangover or negative reaction to last Friday. At the end of the day, it was a Dublin derby against a difficult team with dangerous players. The real disappointment is probably that we’ve dropped other silly points over the last 6 to 8 weeks, rather than in a very tight Dublin Derby.”

Over the past two and a half years Duff hailed the squad’s ability to respond to setbacks and knows that is a trait that will be important for the run in:

“There’s been games over the last 12 months we’ve got knocked back in, UCD at home, Drogheda away in the last game of the season, even this year up in Derry, 1-0 down, the lads have always responded either in the game, or the next week to adversity. They’re a really tight-knit group with top-quality, and very high fitness levels. When you combine that with a strong belief and a never-say-die attitude, you’re always going to stay in games. There’s a lot of football to be played. Whenever we’ve faced setbacks, we’ve bounced back, and that’s never been an issue with our guys.”

With Sean Boyd sidelined in recent weeks and Will Jarvis’ return to Hull City, other players have got amongst the goals. Evan Caffrey scored in the 2-1 loss in Sligo, Aiden O’Brien netted in the FAI Cup against Galway United on his debut, while Ali Coote opened his Reds account in the drawn derby with Bohs with an audacious lob. Duff wants to see more from his front men ahead of the final furlong:

“I want them to step up more consistently because we have a lot of attacking quality in the squad. I always tell the guys to show their quality and personality, and there’s no doubt in my mind that there are plenty more goals—and important ones— in this team, and I know they will come. It’s a time to be really optimistic; I said it last week, we’re in an unbelievable position. Is there pressure? No, I don’t think so. Beyond what we place on ourselves, there’s no pressure.”

Dundalk go into this game having not played a fixture since August 9th, Duff says it’s hard to know if the extended downtime will be a help or a hindrance:

“We probably won’t know until tomorrow night, but I’d still rather be playing football matches. Three weeks is an awfully long time. Jon will have them really well-prepared and on it. We won’t disrespect them or their league position—that’s a false position really. Look at their quality and their home form, they don’t deserve to be where they are in the table. Oriel Park is as tough a place as anywhere in Ireland to go and get a win. We know how difficult a task it is and we know it will take a massive performance from us to get a result.”