Today
Kilkenny City v Finn Harps (7.30)
Jonathon Minnock is the only doubt for Charlie McGeever as he brings his side to the south east for this cup tie and the full back should, he believes, have recovered from the bout of flu that curtailed his involvement in last week's Shelbourne game.
"He should be okay and aside from that we could hardly have any knocks given that we didn't bother to make a single tackle at Tolka Park," said McGeever.
Alfie Hale, as ever, has enough knocks for two managers with Robert Walsh and Kevin Kelly still laid up long term. Paul Cashin is highly doubtful with a hamstring problem and Gerry Goodwin looks like he's going to be out for a while after damaging knee ligaments.
Michael Reddy is another source of concern for the City boss with Brian Kerr opting to delay his decision on whether or not to release Reddy, Richie Baker and Conor O'Grady to their clubs until this morning.
If Goodwin misses out then Brian Arrigan will probably drop back to full back but Hale will still have to do his weekly reshuffle if he is to keep his side's strong run of form going.
League and cup form: Kilkenny City: W W W W W; Finn Harps: D W W W L.
League and cup scorers: Kilkenny City: Vaughan (14), Reddy (seven); Finn Harps: Mulligan and Speak (10 each).
Route to quarter-finals: Kilkenny City: Round one - beat Swilly Rovers 3-2 at home; Round two - beat St Mary's 3-0 away; Finn Harps: Round one - beat Belgrove 6-0 away in replay; Round two - beat Cork City 1-0 at home in replay.
Betting: Home: 5/2; Draw: 9/4; Away: 10/11.
Scheduled replay date: Tuesday, March 9th, 7.30.
Referee: J Stacey (Athlone).
Sligo Rovers v Bray Wanderers (7.30)
The last time these two met at the Showgrounds there was skin and hair flying and given how much is riding on the outcome of this game it could end up being something of a repeat performance tonight.
Bray, of course, are still without Jason Byrne and Aaron Lynch, both of whom picked up serious injuries in that game while Stuart Connolly, who scored last week at the Brandywell, is doubtful having also picked up a knock in that game. Stephen Gifford is cup tied.
Nicky Reid has a few problems of his own with Neil Ogden suspended, Mattie Hare suffering from a groin strain and Ross McLynn doubtful due to an ankle injury.
Jim Sheridan should be fit to play despite a minor back problem while Marcus Hallows is expected to be involved in some way after recovering from an ankle injury he picked up a couple of weeks back against Shamrock Rovers.
"It's an enormous game for both clubs," says Reid, "but both of us will reckon that we can get through to the semi-finals. If we do, it would be a great boost for us and maybe just the sort of thing that would help us to start turn things around in the league too."
League and cup form: Sligo Rovers: D W L W D; Bray Wanderers: D W L D D.
League and cup scorers: Sligo Rovers: Hallows and Shannon (seven each); Bray Wanderers: Byrne and O'Connor (five each), Parsons (four).
Route to quarter-finals: Sligo Rovers: Round one - beat Athlone 1-0 away; Round two - beat Cobh Ramblers 2-1 at home; Bray Wanderers: Round one - beat St Francis 5-0 at home; Round two - beat Cherry Orchard 3-0 at home.
Betting: Home: 11/10; Draw: 9/4; Away: 2/1.
Scheduled replay date: Wednesday, March 10th, 7.45.
Referee: D O'Hanlon (Waterford).
Tomorrow
Derry City v Shelbourne (4.0)
Both of these have been going well recently but Shelbourne's remarkable run in the cup over the last few years means that they'll go into this match as slight favourites.
However, they'll need a little bit of luck on the injury front if they are to get a result with Pat Scully, Dessie Baker and Stephen Geoghegan all suffering from a flu that prevented them from training this week. Manager Dermot Keely has it too but he is optimistic that everybody will have shaken it off in time to take part in tomorrow's game.
Derry, meanwhile, rate Paul Curran as highly doubtful due to an ankle injury and Darren Kelly is likely to partner Peter Hutton at the heart of the Derry defence if Curran does miss out.
On the brighter side for Kevin Mahon is the fact that Paul Hegarty and Sean Hargan will be back from injury and suspension respectively and both will go straight back into the starting line up.
"They've beaten us a couple of times already this season," says Mahon, "and if we played the way we did last week then they'd be favourites to make it three in a row. I don't think there'll be any of the complacency we showed against Bray this week, though. The players know that if we are going to get anything out of this season it is going to be in the cup and they'll be up for this game from the outset."
League and cup form: Derry City: D W D W D; Shelbourne: D W W W W.
League and cup scorers: Derry City: Coyle (nine), McHugh (five); Shelbourne: Sheridan (10), Fenlon (seven), S Geoghegan (five).
Route to quarter-finals: Derry City: Round one - beat Longford 1-0 away; Round two - beat Dundalk 2-0 at home; Shelbourne: Round one - beat Shamrock Rovers 3-0 away; Round two - beat Bohemians 1-0 away.
Betting: Home: 6/4; Draw: 11/5; Away: 6/4.
Scheduled replay date: Thursday, March 11th, 7.30.
Referee: G Perry (Dublin).
First Division
Longford travel to Monaghan tomorrow knowing that they need to win if they are to keep themselves in the race to finish in the top three. If they are to win, however, they must be more ruthless than they were against Athlone last weekend.
"The number of chances we created was amazing and then we missed a penalty, so to lose that game was really heartbreaking," says Longford manager Stephen Kenny.
Despite the slip up and the lack of menace that Longford possess around the penalty area, Kenny is likely to stick with much the same team that lost that game, although Vinny Perth is somewhat doubtful due to an ankle problem.
For Monaghan, Mick Scully is still suspended while Karl Wilson isn't but is unavailable because of a family commitment. In their absence, Billy Bagster is likely to field the same team that drew at St Francis last week.
Fixture: Monaghan United v Longford Town (3.15).
