O’Donnell not taking Bray Wanderers clash for granted

Stephen O’Donnell is cautiously approaching this Friday night’s Sports Direct FAI Cup second-round clash with Bray Wanderers at the Carlisle Grounds (kick-off, 7.45pm).

The Lilywhites have reached the quarter-final stage of the FAI Cup in each of the last 12 seasons, but although Bray languishes in the bottom half of the First Division, O’Donnell is taking nothing for granted after seeing his side dumped out by Waterford last term.

In the round before that, Dundalk needed extra-time to overcome Wexford, managed by ex-Lilywhite defender Ian Ryan, who has incidentally since taken charge of The Seagulls.

“They have a lot of good players,” O’Donnell told The Democrat.

“It’s the same coach, Ian Ryan, that made it very hard for us against Wexford away last year. It’s going to be a tough game, but one we’re looking forward to.

“It’s the last 16 of the cup, and away from home, but again, we’re looking forward to it now, and going in off the back of a win.”

Their narrow 1-0 SSE Airtricity League win over Sligo Rovers at Oriel Park last Friday night moved Dundalk to within eight points of leaders Shamrock Rovers, and just four points behind second-placed St Patrick’s Athletic with nine fixtures still left to play.  

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Dundalk and Derry City, who beat Drogheda United 3-0 on Sunday, were the only Premier Division sides to win over the weekend, with the other games ending in draws.

“Anytime you win and the other set of fixtures draw, you’re happy. You gain a bit of ground, so we are happy, but we mainly focus on ourselves. We’re happy with the win, and as I said, we get ready to go now next week.”

While a top-three finish would guarantee O’Donnell’s side a return to the UEFA Conference League next season, the FAI Cup provides another possible route back into Europe, with the outright winners also set to claim their place on the continental circuit.  

Despite playing with 10 players for over an hour, The Lilywhites knocked out Shamrock Rovers in the first round with a 1-0 win at Oriel, and with Derry hosting St Pats on Sunday, another big gun is guaranteed to be eliminated before the quarter-final stage.

“We’re looking at the cup as one of two proper pieces of silverware you can win in Ireland,” added the Dundalk head coach, who guided St Pats to Aviva Stadium glory in 2021.

“So that’s what we’re looking at, and we’re going to attack the cup like we like to attack every game, so we’re looking forward to it. We want to win every game, so the approach will be the same next week. Cup or non-cup, we want to win matches.”

Hayden Muller limped off in the win over Sligo, and is a slight doubt for the Bray match, but Robbie McCourt should return after sitting out last Friday’s game due to an illness.

Robbie Benson is expected to make a return to training this week, while both John Mountney and Keith Ward are making good progress from their respective ailments.

“Hayden just hyperextended his knee a bit, but it shouldn’t be too serious,” explained O’Donnell. “He just overstretched it, and his knee was straight when he planted.

“(McCourt) has been unwell, he’s been a bit ill. He didn’t train yesterday and was still unwell today, so hence why he wasn’t involved tonight. Robbie Benson had a good session pre-game there, so he’ll hopefully be back training with the group next week.

“We’ll see how his training progresses, but he’ll be in training fully with the group next week, that’s really it. John Mountney, he’s going to be back early. He’s testing really well, so we’ll be looking forward to welcoming him back with the group as well.”

Bray currently occupies seventh place in the First Division table in what has been a frustrating first year in charge for Ian Ryan. They have only won two of their last nine games across between league and cup action.

Their last win was in first round when they overcame Donegal non-league side Cockhill Celtic away from home 3-1. Since then, they have drawn with Cobh and Athlone and lost to Galway United and Longford Town.

Looking ahead to the final quarter of the season, O’Donnell concluded: “I don’t know, we’ll see. We’ll take it each game as we come. We have Bray next, and then I think we go into a double with Shamrock Rovers and Derry, so we will see where we go with that.”