Lifting the team won’t be an issue says Clancy
DROGHEDA United boss Tim Clancy faces the unenviable task of lifting his side for the long drawn-out play-off series after missing out on the First Division title and automatic promotion on Friday night.
Barring a huge defeat in Bray on Saturday, combined with a big win for Longford away to Cobh Ramblers, the Boynesiders will finish second in the table after Longford were beaten at home by Bray at the weekend and that means a four-week break before facing the winners of the third v fourth-place play-off.
However, Clancy was trying to put a brave face on the situation when the Drogheda Independent caught up with him at lunchtime on Monday.
‘I don’t think it’ll be difficult to lift the lads,’ he insisted.
‘We were expecting to be challenging in the play-offs, not for the league title. The way it played out, we brought it down to the last two games, but we still have to get a result - at least a point - to confirm second place.
‘If we can do that we’ll have a four-week break then, so we’ll have a mini pre-season to keep the lads’ fitness up and a couple of friendly games as well.’
Clancy, though, wasn’t minded to criticise the scheduling of the play-offs, pointing out that when Drogheda finished fourth in the table last season and played an extra play-off tie Jake Hyland broke his leg in the match against Shelbourne.
Presuming third-placed Longford don’t close the three-point gap and make up a goal difference deficit of 10, the Boynesiders are guaranteed to finish second and that, Clancy feels, could turn out to be an advantage over Longford and Cabinteely, who will then face each other over two legs, with the winners of that tie meeting the Drogs on October 18th and 25th.
The winners of the First Division play-off series will then face the second-bottom team in the Premier for the right to play in the top flight next season and at the moment it looks like that team will be Finn Harps.
In the meantime, though, it’s all about preparing for a pretty meaningless match at the Carlisle Grounds on Saturday (kick-off 7.45pm) and with Longford highly unlikely to catch Drogheda it affords Clancy the opportunity to tinker with his squad.
‘We have players who are on four yellow cards - I think James Brown, Conor Kane, Mark Hughes, Mark Doyle and Sean Brennan - and that has to be taken into consideration,’ he pointed out.
‘The result in Longford on Saturday [Bray beat the midlanders 2-1] has changed things a little bit. We’re in a very strong position to finish second and it gives us an opportunity to leave one or two players out.
‘But you don’t want to lose any game and we don’t want to go into the play-offs having lost two in a row.’
Like most people in the near 2,500 attendance at United Park last Friday, Clancy felt that the sending-off of Sean Brennan for a second bookable offence early in the second half when the score was 0-0 was a game-changer.
‘Probably yes. It certainly didn’t help us,’ he responded.
‘You can understand looking back at it why the referee has given it [second yellow card]. Sean had a foul just before that as well, but the only thing I’d say was that maybe, with the size of the game and what was at stake, he could have been more lenient. He’s challenging for the ball on the edge of the six-yard box and has a right to do that.
‘There’s no point going on about what could have been, though. Shels got the win, which was the main thing for them, and got promoted and they deserve it because they were the most consistent team over the season.
‘There were a couple of moments in games against them which could have made a difference to us, but I’m sure Shels would say the same about games they played.
‘The way it played out, it was an exciting game and a great atmosphere created by both sets of fans, even though I know such a tight ground is no place for pyrotechnics.
‘After we went down to 10 men we got it back to 1-1 and I thought we could have won the game until they got those two late goals, but I don’t want to dwell on it.’