Glengad United have been dealt a blow with the news that midfielder Dillon Ruddy has been ruled out for the next couple of months with an injury.
Ruddy joined Glengad in the summer from Culdaff and manager Shane Byrne confirmed his absence.
“Dillon got a bad injury – he fractured his ankle and he’ll be out now for a couple of months,” Byrne said.
“We have players to come in. We know we have a strong squad. On Sunday, we had a bench with Paddy McDermott, Michael Byrne, Cathal McDaid and John Gerard McDermott, so we know we have good strength there.”
Last month, Glengad lost 6-3 to Greencastle at Chapel Lane but, ahead of a showdown at home to Buncrana Hearts on Sunday, Byrne insists that his men won’t loosen their grip on the Jackie Crossan Premier Division title without a fight.
Glengad haven’t lost at The Crua for almost three years now and will look to lay down a marker on Sunday when they get back to League action.
Byrne said: “We won’t roll over for anyone. I’ll be doing my damnedest to make sure that we don’t have any more sloppy performances.
“Teams are all taking points off each other. Greencastle are the one you feel will be there. But we just have to go and try to beat everyone.
“We’ve left ourselves in a situation where we need a winning run.
“Since Greencastle, we’ve been very good. We’re at home this weekend, we fancy ourselves against anyone at The Crua and we need to put the pressure on now so that we’re in a decent spot after Christmas.”
Glengad are gunning for a fifth successive Premier Division title and hare still fighting on all fronts.
Byrne’s men were drawn at home to Geraldines FC from Limerick in the FAI Junior Cup, and the Glengad boss said: “The Cup games are good they give us a break from the League.
“We’d love a run in the Junior Cup. It would lift the profile of the whole club.
“We have a big game on Sunday, but they all are in this League.
“ We’ve a quarter-final of the Ulster Junior Cup, we have Buncrana in the League and we can’t drop any more points there and we’ve a home game in the FAI Cup.”
Tags:FIXTURES
Jackie Crossan Premier Division 2pm
Glengad V Buncrana E Doherty
Aileach V Illies Celtic M McGonigle
Carn FC V Redcastle W Harvey
Greencastle V Culdaff D McLaughlin
Strand Hotel First Division
QPS V Buncrana Res P McGettigan 2pm
Cockhill Youth V Glengad Res G O’Kane 2pm
Moville Celtic V Gleneely Colts J Porter 2pm
Rasheney FC V Aileach Res J P Houten 2pm
Dunree United V Sea Rovers G McLaughlin 2pm
Division Two 11am
Moville Res V Carn Res S Deeney
Redcastle Res V Dunree Res JJ Lafferty
Aileach Youths V QPS Res E McDaid
Clonmany Res V Culdaff Res L Porter
Carrowmena FC V Cockhill Res P McElhinney
Illies Res V Greencastle Res T O’Loughlin
