UCD and Galway battle for Premier place

UCD host Galway FC at the UCD Bowl tonight in the first of two games that will decide which team will be playing Premier Division football next season.

Conor Cannon was the hero for UCD on Friday after his first-half goal was enough to give UCD a 1-0 win against Drogheda United, a win that kept the Students' season alive.

Aaron Callaghan knows his side will face a big test against Galway, but is hopeful they will have enough over the two legs to maintain their top-flight status.

"Galway will be full of confidence going into this play-off having just beaten Shelbourne; however, after two clean sheets and two wins in a row the players are in good form and their confidence has returned," Callaghan said.

The two sides met earlier in the season in the Ford FAI Cup at the UCD Bowl, Galway emerging 3-1 winners that night. UCD will be hoping for a better performance this time around, and it looks set to be a cracking game.

UCD will be without Dean Clarke who is still recovering from a back injury.

Suspensions have hit the UCD side at the wrong time with midfield duo Robbie Benson and Robbie Creevy set to miss out after they picked up their fourth yellow card of the season in last week's game against Derry City.

Callaghan will serve the final game of his three-game touchline suspension.

Galway come into the game on the back of a successful two-legged play-off against Shelbourne and will be hoping that experience stands to them against the Students.

Tommy Dunne's side claimed a 2-0 victory at home in the first leg against Shelbourne before beating the Dublin side 2-1 in the return leg.

"We were delighted to come through it. Shelbourne are a strong team and a club with a lot of tradition. For us to get to the play-off final, it was a fantastic achievement," Dunne said.

"Now we go to UCD, they're no strangers to us. With them being the Premier Division club I'd imagine they're favourites, but we're hoping we can achieve our goal of trying to get promoted.

"We know what's in front of us, UCD have got good players and staff and some fantastic facilities.

"We played UCD back in June so it's a bit down the road. I think both teams have moved on since then, albeit, we did put in a good performance that day.

"I do think that this game is a bit more serious than the cup. Playing against UCD on Monday will bring up a different set of circumstances and challenges. I hope we can deal with them. We will do our best to keep fully concentrated over the 180 minutes or whatever it may be."

Stephen Walsh and Alex Byrne are both rated as highly doubtful to be fit enough for the game, both players will undergo late fitness tests ahead of the game. Meanwhile Aaron McDonagh (appendix) is ruled out again.

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