Friday night’s televised match in Tallaght Stadium kicks off at 7.45 pm. Tickets are still available here.

We’ve had a couple of weeks since our last game, the 2-1 away league defeat to Bohs. Were you happy to take the international break this time after so many recent domestic and European games?

“Not really. You want to get going and keep your stride, you want games. But the international break is there, but we would rather be playing games, give players minutes and get into our stride.”

Pico Lopes and Markus Poom both played for Cape Verde and Estonia respectively and Johnny Kenny played with the Ireland under 21s. It’s always a big honour for the players and this group when they play for their country. Have they come back ok from their camps?

“We can’t lose sight that it’s a massive honour for our club when we have international players. Luckily in my time here, we’ve been good in that regard with players playing international football. All three have come back fine and are all ready to go for tomorrow.”

Nine league games remain, a quarter of a season. So, plenty can yet change in how the league positions will be decided, be it from top to seventh position as it currently stands.

“There are a lot of points to play for. We have to focus on what’s in front of us, Sligo at home this week and try and get three points. I felt in our last game against Bohs, and I said it afterwards, we should’ve put the game to bed early and we didn’t. We weren’t ruthless enough so if we get those opportunities tomorrow, we must make sure that we take them. If you’re not ruthless, this league is unforgiving and it can come back and bite you, which we found out two weeks ago. A lot can change, there are a lot of points to play for but it’s up to us to look after our own stuff and be ruthless at both ends.”

Sligo are the opponents this weekend. We beat them 3-0 at Tallaght, while in Sligo we had a 0-0 and a 0-2 defeat and they are currently four points ahead of us. So, there’s a real incentive for the group to repeat the home result tomorrow night and move up the table again.

“We know Sligo are having a good season, we know they’ll come with a gameplan to hurt us with the pace they have. We know Simon Power first-hand and his pace and what he can do so we must respect what Sligo are good at but also impose what we’re good at. As I said, when we get our opportunities, which I’ve no doubt we will, we need to be ruthless and take them.”

As you said just now, we know first-hand the danger Simon Power poses. Where else do you see the dangers to us in Sligo’s style?

“You look across their front line, those four are dangerous, you see that in every Sligo game you watch. Malley and Morahan in midfield are good players hence they’re having a good season. We know in this league, every game is tough so tomorrow will be no different. We need to be at our very best to win the game.”

What players remain on the injured list?

Aaron Greene and Rory Gaffney are still out. Aaron McEneff picked up a knock at training yesterday so he’s out, which is an annoyance as he was getting back up to speed. Trevor Clarke is back which is good and everyone else is fine.”