Monaghan United v Sligo Rovers

Last weekend it was Paul Cook proved that he had the better ingredients and recipe when Sligo Rovers defeated Monaghan United, can Mick Cooke refresh his mixture and hope that it will rise faster and come home with the sweet aroma of success this time. For the second consecutive week the two sides are in action in a cup game, on this occasion it is the final of the EA Sports Cup. Both managements and sides will have learned quite a bit about each other following last Saturdays meeting. United will be hoping to reverse that result and for the first time in their history lift some silverware.

Mick Cooke will see the return of Paul Whelan and Ian Maher who were cup-tied last week end, we also saw they welcome return of Aidan Lynch who has missed most of the season, his introduction as a second half substitute made a big difference to United performance.

Cooke will be hoping that his side will get into the game much earlier on this occasion, on Saturday they showed Sligo too much respect. On their second half performance United demonstrated that they are well capable of taking Sligo and in that period they created enough chances to have gotten on the scoreboard. Although United defended very well the three goals conceded were each as a result of unforced errors.

Sligo are going very well in the Premier, their win last week end sees them drawn against Bohemians in the Semi-Finals, the sides also met on Tuesday last when Rovers came from a goal behind to draw and upset the hopes of promotion of 10 man Bohs in a tough encounter. A win in that game would have put Bohs joint top with Shamrock Rovers, Sligo are in 4^th.positon in the table. Since United had no game mid week this should mean that they will be the fresher of the two sides.

Hopefully last weekends result might lull Sligo Rovers into a false sense of security. Mick Cooke will have a full panel to select from. Speaking with many of the travelling supporters after the game in the Showgrounds most were confident about this fixture and felt that it would be a totally different game and that United would get the appropriate revenge. It will have to be finished on the night so don’t rule out the excitement of extra time and a penalty shootout.

Defeats this year for United have been few and so far they haven’t conceded two in a row, lets hope they can continue that trend.  

Kick off at the sports ground is at the earlier time of 5.30.p.m.

Managers Quotes “I am pleased to be here in the Sligo Showgrounds on this historic occasion for Monaghan Utd - our first Cup Final and our 25th year in football.  At the time of going to press, we will be preparing to play Sligo in the FAI Cup quarter final and top of the First Division.  ! Reaching these levels is a huge achievement for the club.

We have no fears coming here as on the way we have beaten Premier League teams, Bohemians and Dundalk. I believe that it will be a totally type of game to last weekends meeting between the sides in the FAI/ Ford Cup and I came away from that gaming believing that we can get the desired result.

Our success this season is due to the hard work of our chairman, Jim McGlone and his committee, the back room staff and above all the Monaghan Utd panel of players.

I have always enjoyed coming to Sligo Showgrounds both as a player and a manager where the supporters know their football and I hope both sets of supporters will enjoy an entertaining game of football tonight”.

Suspensions  nil

Injuries  nil

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