Kickoff in the Showgrounds is at 7.45pm on Monday evening, with coverage on LOITV

We had a hard-fought draw away to Shelbourne on Friday. Having watched it back, was a draw a fair result?

“I think so. I said after the game I thought first half we were excellent. Second half, Shels were the better team, and we had to dig in and see the game out and we did that really well. We still had a brilliant second half chance with Aaron McEneff, he should probably square it to Graham Burke, but overall, I think a draw was probably a fair result.”

Losing a goal and Lee Grace after two minutes was the worst possible start. How pleased were you how we didn’t let the goal get us down too much and how easily Cory just stepped into Lee’s position thereafter with real composure and maturity against a physical Shelbourne side?

“I never worry about the team in terms of how they’ll react. You’re going to concede goals, that’s football. You try your hardest not to, but you will. It’s really unlucky with Lee, he blocks a shot, and his other leg slips and gives way, so it looks like Lee will be out for a few weeks. But Cory came in and, I think he showed against Molde and many other times also, that he’s more than ready to play. There are no questions there whatsoever.”

Next up is Sligo Rovers away at The Showgrounds on Monday night. Despite our opponents losing all three games so far, am exciting 4-3 defeat to St Pat’s on Friday proves there are goals in John Russell’s team. Who or what do we need to watch out most for with Sligo tomorrow night?

“As you’ve just said there, they score three and miss a penalty on Friday against Pat’s, so they could easily have drawn or got something out of the game. Cian Kavanagh is a handful, we know that, and Will Fitzgerald has been very good for them. You look at Sligo’s midfield, they have real quality in there. In all of their games, they’ve had chances to score and get themselves back in games. They scored first against Drogheda but it was offside, and those moments change games. We must make sure that we give Sligo the same respect as we’ve given every opponent so far this season.”

You’re gradually getting bodies back into contention, and new signing Seán Robertson will add to your options over the next few weeks.

“I’m delighted to get Seán in. We spoke with Seán maybe eighteen months ago, but it just wasn’t the right time for either of us. Then it came up again a couple of months ago, and we’d spoken and kept in contact, and I think he’s one who really suits what we do for the position he’ll play here with really good attributes so I think Seán will be a really good fit for the group.”

How’s Lee Grace after his early injury on Friday and does anyone else miss out for the Sligo game other than Danny Mandroiu and Darragh Nugent?

“We’re still waiting to get Lee scanned, but I’d imagine he’ll be a few weeks out. Lee doesn’t come off with knocks or niggles, when you watch it back and how Lee describes it, he blocked the shot and his other leg gave way in the turf and the poor pitch didn’t help. It’s so unfortunate as Lee’s been brilliant. Darragh’s knocking on the door every two minutes wanting to be involved, but we’re still waiting on the all-clear from the surgeon. Danny Mandroiu is still a few weeks away. Jack Byrne is back. We will see how Adam Matthews is today, he feels fine but where his knee stitches are, they’re afraid they’ll open up when he sprints fully, so we don’t want that setting Adam back another few weeks. Trevor Clarke is just there but we have to remember he’s been out for a while and so although he won’t be involved in Sligo, he’s just there.”