FAI CUP St Patrick's Ath v Bohemians:HAVING trailed behind their rivals to what he considers an "embarrassing" extent in the league, Jamie Harris is hoping he and his St Patrick's Athletic team-mates can salvage some pride while maintaining their hopes of winning some silverware this season by winning tonight's first Ford-sponsored FAI Cup semi-final at Richmond Park, writes Emmet Malone
Harris and co have home advantage, but on the face of it, Bohemians have the edge in most other departments. With the league already won, Pat Fenlon's men may have lost last week, but their wider consistency this year is amply reflected in the 19-point advantage they hold at the top of the Premier Division table over the Inchicore outfit, whom they comfortably beat at the start of last month.
A win tonight, the visitors know, would represent a major step towards a coveted double, but Harris insists that, for his side, the prize of taking something from a hugely disappointing season will prove the greater motivation.
"I'd like to think that we're going to be hungrier than them," says the Welshman. "They have the league in the bag, whether they have been celebrating that, I don't know. But we're looking to salvage something from our season. A lot of our players desperately want to get their hands on a bit of silverware."
It's questionable whether even a cup success would be seen as an adequate return for a St Patrick's team of which so much was expected at the start of the season. Given that the club hasn't won the competition for almost half a century, however, it would certainly go some way towards lifting the spirits of the fans who, like Harris, will have been deeply upset by how one-sided the title race turned out to be.
"When you look at the squad we have assembled, it's hard to understand why we haven't done it this year," he admits. "For me, yeah, it's embarrassing to look at the league table and see that we're 19 points behind. As a player, and as captain of the team, you don't want to see that happening.
"There's going to be a lot of pride in our performance, a lot of blood and thunder, like they say. We're going to go at them from the start."
Harris has won three league titles since he arrived in Ireland almost a decade ago, which is one fewer than Pat Fenlon has picked up since he hanged up his boots and went into management.
Like the big defender, though, the Bohemians boss has not had not had much luck of late in the cup.
"It's probably something I haven't placed too much emphasis on," says Fenlon. "I think at the clubs I've been involved in it's been more about winning league titles. But it's a big priority now obviously, because it's the last competition we are left in so it's fantastic to be in the semi-final. I'm really looking forward to it. I haven't been in a cup final for a while, so it would be nice to get there."
The visitors have Neale Fenn and Mark Rossiter back from injury, but Anto Murphy is cup-tied, while Killian Brennan (toe) and Jason McGuinness (hamstring) are doubtful.
John McDonnell, meanwhile, is without Stephen Paisley, Gary O'Neill (both groin), John Murphy (back), Bobby Ryan (knee), Dessie Byrne (hamstring), Derek O'Brien and Jason Gavin (both cup-tied), while top-scorer Mark Quigley is a doubt with a knee ligament problem.
The High Court has confirmed the appointment of Kieran McCarthy as examiner to Drogheda United.
Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan yesterday approved the appointment of McCarthy of Hughes Blake Chartered Accountants as examiner of Hinge Trading Ltd, which operates Drogheda United. The appointment was made despite objections from the Revenue Commissioners.
Drogheda now face the possibility of a points deduction as a result of going into examinership.
Last week, the club sought the protection of the courts due to financial difficulties caused by delays over its proposed move to a new stadium.
