Momentum is all well and good, insists Mark Coyle, captain of early league leaders Shelbourne. Maintaining it is key.
Unbeaten after five games and with three successive clean sheets from four wins on the bounce, Damien Duff’s side are two points clear at the top of the Premier Division table. They now face St Patrick’s Athletic in a Dublin derby at Richmond Park on Friday night.
“Momentum is the most important thing, we’ve tried to build that up,” said midfielder Coyle, last week named SSE Airtricity/Soccer Writers Ireland Player of the Month for February.
“It’s something we want to keep doing, we want to keep that relentless streak. This week we had some proper good sessions. Motivation is massive. We know if we get three points that’s five wins and one draw and it really would be a great start.”
That motivation ensures no inkling of complacency, not that manager Duff would countenance it.
“We’ll stay grounded, that comes from the manager and the staff,” added Coyle.
“The gaffer has always got a great message, every story has a point to it. Himself and Joey’s [O’Brien, assistant coach] meetings always have a meaning that resonates with the players.
“It could be a movie clip or a reference and it just hits you, ‘I get it, what they mean’. The message is if you smell yourself you get caught out. They are geniuses on the motivational side.
“They know what we have to do and so do we. We have to be at it and be relentless if we want to have a successful season. Hats off to the manager, the staff, they’re brilliant at that side of the game. We’ve had a decent start, but it’s too early in the season to think we’ve done something.”
With Shelbourne having quickly sold out their 1,150 ticket allocation, Richmond Park can expect another 5,000 full house.
“We’ll be looking to nullify their threats,” said St Patrick’s defender Luke Turner.
“They have tricky wingers, decent strikers, good players in the middle of the park and a good defence. It’s nothing that we don’t have and have come up against this season. It’s just another game that we have to go and win.”
While champions Shamrock Rovers head west to newly promoted Galway United in search of their first win of the season, Derry City, seen as their chief title rivals, travel to Bohemians for whom coaches Derek Pender and Trevor Croly take charge following the departure of manager Declan Devine last weekend.
“We’ve a decent record at Dalymount and it’s a venue we enjoy playing at,” said Derry manager Ruaidhrí Higgins, whose side sit second in the table.
“However, unless we approach the game properly and put in a committed performance then we won’t get a favourable result. There’s usually always a reaction and a bit of a bounce when a team changes manager, but it’ll be up to us to deal with that.”
Friday’s fixtures (7.45)
Premier Division: Bohemians v Derry City; Dundalk v Waterford; Galway United v Shamrock Rovers; St Patrick’s Athletic v Shelbourne.
First Division: Cork City v Bray Wanderers; Kerry v Cobh Ramblers; UCD v Athlone Town; Wexford v Finn Harps.
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