Henderson not looking for favours
Stephen Henderson says his Cobh Ramblers side will not be relying on any favours to keep them in the Premier Division.
This weekend could prove to be decisive in their fight against the drop, with Ramblers facing a difficult trip to Richmond Park to play St Pat’s tomorrow evening.
The Cobh players are sure to have one eye on Turner’s Cross, however, as fellow strugglers Finn Harps square off against Cork City.
The Donegal outfit are currently four points clear of the relegation zone, but a positive result against Alan Mathews’ side would push them closer to safety.
City will be forced to field a patched-up team again tomorrow. Dan Murray, Danny Murphy, Denis Behan and Colin Healy are all serving suspensions, while Cillian Lordan and Michael Devine are both ruled out through injury.
Alan Mathews will also be tempted to rest a number of other key players, with a season-defining Setanta Sports Cup semi-final away to Derry City to come on Tuesday.
“Nobody’s done us any favours in the past and I’m not expecting any from Cork now,” said Henderson.
“What I would expect from them is that they’d be professional by going out to do their jobs to the best of their ability, because if they do that they’ll beat Finn Harps.”
Henderson’s charges will be keen to pull off a shock of their own in Inchicore tomorrow night, against a St Pat’s side who are reeling from their elimination from the Setanta Sports Cup at the hands of Glentoran earlier this week.
With the title race all but over, there’s little at stake for Johnny McDonnell’s team in their remaining seven league games.
Second place is relatively secure and there’s an FAI Cup semi-final around the corner, but Henderson isn’t counting on Pat’s losing their focus.
“Pat’s will be a big test for us,” he says.
“They’ve had a few huge games lately and they’ve had some setbacks, so it’s our intention to go up and have a go at them early to see if they can answer the questions we ask of them.
“They’re second in the division, they’ve put in some great performances in the UEFA Cup and they’ve got some of the best players in the league. Maybe they are mentally drained after playing so many big games recently, but if they are, we need to ensure that we take advantage of that,” added Henderson.
“I’m only thinking about my players though. We’re on a good run and we’ve played reasonably well over the last few weeks and we’re now in a position to challenge Finn Harps.”
