Friday night

Friday night sees two sides currently sitting in the First Division play-off spots battle it out as St Colman’s Park hosts its first senior game in almost a month.

The Rams got back on track in Longford last time out, winning 1-0 thanks to a Wilson Waweru header in the first half. The on-loan Galway man overtakes Jack Doherty as the side’s top scorer with nine to his name in 2023. A defeat away to Finn Harps as well as the FAI Cup exit to Premier Division UCD were slight blips prior to the Midlands trip in what has been a stellar Ramblers run, creating a gap of six points between third place Cobh and Athlone one spot behind.

Two wins on the bounce for Wexford, at home to Treaty and away to Bray, saw them rise into the final play-off spot last week, somewhere they will hope to remain for the remainder of the campaign. The Leinster side also progressed in the FAI Cup having defeated Avondale 3-0 in Ferrycarrig Park, so are clearly in form of late.

The clubs have met twice so far in 2023, with both ties ending in a 2-1 home victory, one apiece. Matches between these two clubs tend to produce goals, with every clash since 2019 seeing the ball hit the net at least three times. For Wexford it’s evident who their main threat in that sense is, with former Shamrock Rovers man Aaron Dobbs having found the net 12 times already this year. Veteran striker Danny Furlong and recent loan-arrival from Waterford Thomas Oluwa are further threats in a squad that is starting to show promise after much hype at the start of the season.

For the Rams former Wexford man Jack Doherty is close to full fitness again and he would love nothing more than to produce some magic against his old side tonight. The game is also a chance for recent arrivals Luke Casey, Dean Larkin and Mikie Rowe to all make home debuts and impress the Ramblers crowd. Charlie Lyons is available once more after suspension.

Manager Shane Keegan is weary of his former side but optimistic going into the match,

“We come into the game on the back of a very good week for the club. We picked up a really impressive three points in Longford. We had to dig in and see the result through but as 1-0 wins go it was reasonably comfortable. It was important to bounce back with that win, having lost the previous two without being particularly poor in either game.

Off the field it was massive to tie Michael McCarthy and Charlie O’Brien down to new contracts. They are two brilliant lads and their application and attitude has brought them to this level. We have more young players with similar attributes and similar deals may be in the pipeline again. Looking at the club’s academy, Ramblers is in a tremendous position in terms of the underage pipeline. You look at the U19s’ win over Shamrock Rovers last week, it’s nothing short of astonishing given our resources.

Wexford are coming into this game in good form and back in the play-off spots for the first time in a while. I always felt they had the quality and I’d be quite surprised if they aren’t still in the play-offs at the end of the season. It’ll be a tough one but we’re having a great year ourselves and heading into every game thinking we can get something. We hope that we can deliver again, especially with the home support behind us again.”

Kick-off is at 19:45 in St Colman’s Park, with the game being streamed live on LOITV.