Tickets remain on sale for Friday night’s match in Tallaght Stadium. Kick-off it at 8pm. The match will also be shown on LOITV.

We made it five wins in a row with an excellent 2-1 win in Derry last Friday. Despite going behind midway through the second half, did we deserve the three points?

“I think we did, on our second half performance. I thought in the first half, Derry were the better team, they had momentum and started quickly. We felt that would happen as we had played on the Monday and then we had the travel to Derry. But I thought we dealt with it well, they had set plays but never really had any opportunities off the back of that and then second half I thought we were excellent. We completely controlled the game. Derry scored against the run of play, although it’s a good finish. But I thought we deserved it and our second goal was one of real quality. It was a real team goal so it was an important three points.”

We were without Lee Grace last Friday and you withdrew Cory O’Sullivan in the first half for fear of him getting a second yellow card. But Adam Matthews showed his versatility and experience when he went into the back three when Cory went off. How much has a player of Adam’s massive experience and achievement brought to the group already?

“I think you could see with Adam at the start, we had to go slowly with him as he hadn’t had the full pre-season, he’d been inactive for a while. So we had to be careful with him. But we always knew the value Adam would bring on the pitch. I spoke to a number of his previous managers and they all couldn’t speak highly enough of Adam, as a player and a person. So we knew what we were getting and Stephen McPhail had played with Adam. But you’re seeing on the pitch, his quality in terms of how he can play in five different positions comfortably. Off the pitch, Adam is brilliant around the group, he’s a brilliant professional. His versatility and what he brings to the group is brilliant, it gives you so many options in games in terms of changes. We had to protect Cory against Derry, so Adam just slotted back in and was very good.”

That win sees us six points clear at the midway point of the season. Despite your frustration at the front-loading of the season, that’s a brilliant effort by the group considering we only played one pre-season game.

“Yes it is. We’re in a good place at the moment. We just need to stay focussed. The game tomorrow is a difficult game against Galway so we need to be focussed on what they’ll bring, keep at our levels but we need to keep working hard. It’s only the midway point, we know that and we’ve been around the block a long time and we know what it takes. So it’s all about working hard and staying focussed.”

Usually you’d prefer to keep racking up games, especially as we have some momentum, but are you happy to take stock next weekend with the international break coming?

“Yes I am, considering all of last season and where it led into, in terms of pre-season. As you said, we have momentum but I think the break now is important to take, with what’s coming in the second half of the season. There will be a lot of games and it could be a long season so we mightn’t have this opportunity again until the end of the season. It’s important we use the break and that the players get some much-needed recovery time.”

Next up this weekend is Galway United at home. We beat them 1-0 away in Round 8 with Rory Gaffney scoring. Galway have struggled recently but got back to winning ways last week and in Moses Dyer have the league’s top scorer with nine goals, so they’re a dangerous opponent for us.

“They are dangerous. Galway are very good at what they do. If you look at their games, it’s always the odd goal here or there and they’re very good in what they do. Their games are tight, there’s never much in their games.  In Moses Dyer they have the league’s top scorer at the moment and he’s scored some really good goals, they have some real threats. In their manager, John Caulfield, you see what he’s done over the years in this league, how he’s done it and the type of teams he’s evolved with over the years. When it’s all said and done, John will be regarded as one of the best in our league and you have to respect that.  It’s why Galway were brilliant last year and again very good this year. So we know how organised they are with some good players and we’re under no illusions that tomorrow is a difficult game.”

Dan Cleary is suspended for an accumulation of yellow cards and Lee Grace and Seán Kavanagh are out injured. Is everyone else available?

“Everyone else is ok, all good.”