Dundalk braced for ‘tie of the round’ against Sligo Rovers

Ciaran Kilduff has made it clear that Dundalk FC will not approach their Sports Direct FAI Cup second-round clash with Sligo Rovers as a “free hit,” as the team sets its sights on a strong cup run this season.

Currently leading the SSE Airtricity League First Division, Dundalk will relish the opportunity to test themselves against Premier Division opposition in Sligo, who sit second from bottom but are unbeaten in their last four league games.

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The match, scheduled for this Friday night at Oriel Park (kick-off, 7:45pm), has been widely billed as the tie of the round, with Kilduff hopeful his side can spring a surprise and advance to the last 16 of the FAI Cup.

“We’re going to try and win it,” declared the Dundalk manager, as he looked ahead to the clash with Sligo. “When we got the draw, we saw that there was an opportunity for us to test ourselves against a Premier Division team, nothing has changed.

“We hope to be a Premier Division team in a couple of months, but now the focus shifts to Sligo, and it is a nice distraction, getting a two-week break away from the league, still being four points clear at the top.

“At pre-season, if I told the lads there’d be 13 games left, we’d be four points clear at the top and we’d have a chance against a Premier Division team at home in the FAI Cup, everyone would’ve taken that. We’re going to try and fire on all fronts and the FAI Cup is a welcome distraction.

“We don’t have a league game for two weeks to put more points on the board. At the end of the day, that’s the bread and butter, that’s what we’re aiming to do, and we’ll have to wait for two weeks until we do that, but it’s an opportunity to test ourselves against Sligo.”

Dundalk, 12-time winners of the FAI Cup, suffered an uncharacteristically early exit in last season’s second round, falling 2-1 away to eventual winners Drogheda United—a defeat that marked their first elimination at the last-32 stage since 2010.

Remarkably, that campaign stands as the only occasion since 2010 in which The Lilywhites—finalists for six consecutive years between 2015 and 2020, winning three of those—failed to reach at least the quarter-finals of the competition.

“You want to be in it for as long as you can,” remarked Kilduff, an FAI Cup winner with Dundalk a decade ago, as he reflected on the class of 2025’s prospects.

“There’s only so many things you can win in the League of Ireland. Drogheda won it last year and Wexford got to a semi. Drogheda won it and they weren’t challenging at the top of the Premier Division.

“We’re obviously not there now either, but of course we’d love to make a good account of ourselves in it and get as far as we can, if we get a few good draws along the way.

“We’ve got a tough one to start, a Premier Division team at home. Whether we like it or not, it’s a First Division team against a Premier Division team, but we’ll be trying to make a good account of ourselves on the night.

“Sligo coming to our backyard, we’ve been looking for a while to be going, where are we at. It’s definitely not a free hit. We have an expectation to go and put on a performance.

“I’m hoping for a big occasion, it’s a Premier Division club. We know how big we are, Dundalk as a club, but we got relegated eight or nine months ago and we’re still reeling from it. We’re trying to get back, and it’s a perfect acid test for where we are at.”

The Lilywhites are expected to face Sligo without defender Mayowa Animasahun, who is awaiting the results of a scan on the hamstring injury he sustained in training last Tuesday, but on a more positive note, both Norman Garbett and Ethen Vaughan return to the fold after extended spells on the sidelines.

Conor O’Keeffe remains unavailable as he continues to recover from a head injury that has kept him out for the past two months, while Leo Gaxha has been ruled out for the remainder of the season with a serious ACL injury.

A troubling omen for Dundalk ahead of this encounter is that, in 10 previous attempts—including replays—they have never beaten a Premier Division side while playing from the First Division.

Encouragingly, they carry a 17-match unbeaten run in the FAI Cup at Oriel—a streak that dates back to a quarter-final replay defeat to Shamrock Rovers in 2014—with home draws likely to prove pivotal if Dundalk are to mount a sustained cup run this season.

“We try to make it our fortress,” said Kilduff. “We played very well at home to Cobh, travelled to Kerry, got a good win down there. We hit a pothole (against Bray Wanderers) with the result in particular.

“Getting home to our place now and making it a fortress, if you can have the same atmosphere that those fans gave us, I’m sure we’ll repay them with a good performance.”