Tickets remain on sale for this match – Kick-off is at 7.45pm – the match will be televised on Virgin Media 2.

There’s only one place to start, our UEFA Conference League second qualifying round draw. We will play either St Joseph’s of Gibraltar or Cliftonville, the latter of which you’ll already have an insight into from our recent signing John McGovern. What’s your reaction to the draw?

“I think everyone connected to the club would like the Cliftonville draw, with the connections we have there being strong with both clubs. Also it’s such a short distance up the road, I think Cliftonville would feel the same. I know they’ll have a tricky tie to get through and we’ll go and see that, but it’d be a great draw for both sets of fans and the clubs in general. I know little bits about St Joseph’s, they played Shelbourne last season, but I’m not sure how much their squad has changed.  We’ll start that research now and we’ll go into detail and go and watch them, so we’ll do our homework on both.”

Until then, it’s full steam ahead with league games. We had another fine performance last Monday, coming from an early goal behind to beat Drogheda 2-1 away. What’s your reflection on Monday’s win?

“It was a really good win. We all know Drogheda is a tough place to go, we’ve seen that with teams who’ve lost there this year. Also when you throw in the emotion of the day for them (their omission from European football this season by UEFA), it was always going to be a difficult game and they would use that, which they did at the start. But I felt the players were excellent. It was a case of being patient and trusting what we do and we got our rewards in the end. I felt we deserved the win.”

Drogheda’s physical size and strength led to their early goal from a corner. Were you happy how we coped with that after they scored?

We’re disappointed with their goal in terms of our point of view, but from their point of view, it’s a great ball in, they have big players and it’s a good header. But after that, we dealt with everything really well. Drogheda are very efficient in what they do, they put the ball in the box at every opportunity, from all areas of the pitch. So you have to make sure you’re ready for that. But other than that corner, I thought we dealt with the long throws and free kicks really well.”

Our second goal in Drogheda was your team’s philosophy and style at its best. Seven of our ten outfield players touched the ball after we regained possession deep in our own half, culminating in Aaron Greene’s emphatic finish. It’s a great goal.

“It really is. I think it’s very similar to Josh Honohan’s goal last week against Shelbourne. If you look at that move, the styles are similar in how they come about. That’s the bit the players have built up over a long period of time, trusting and believing in what we do. Sometimes it won’t be enough and that’s ok. But we know if we trust that process and what we do, the players are very good at it and the large majority of time, it is enough. So we need to keep doing it and keep believing in it. We got our rewards last week against Shelbourne and again on Monday.”

Cork City now come to Tallaght this weekend with the recent appointment as their manager since we last played them of Ger Nash. Are you familiar with Ger in your career?

“I’m nearly sure I played against Ger (Nash) back in the day with Ipswich v Arsenal. I did a few courses with Ger also, he’s a very good coach and I’m sure he’ll do good things with Cork. You can see little things he’s trying to change already, it won’t happen overnight, but I’m sure he’ll be very good there. I had a few conversations with Ger on those courses, he knows his football and he’s clever, so I think he’ll be very good at Cork.”

Although Cork are in a lowly position, they drew with us last time out in Turner’s Cross and they have the prolific and experienced Seán Maguire back in their team, so despite the gap points-wise, Cork must be respected.

“Definitely. I think they lost 2-0 last week but I’m sure they’ll feel they should’ve at least drawn the game, with the opportunities they had. When you have Maguire, Djenairo Daniels and Cathal O’Sullivan, their attacking threat with those three is as good as any in the country. Seán Maguire’s movement is very similar to Padraig Amond, very good and very clever, O’Sullivan is a very good young player and Daniels causes real problems so they must be respected and Cork as a team must be also.”

Has having practically all the group to choose from recently been key to our form and results and are we still in good health for the Cork game?

“Other than Adam Matthews who is injured, everyone else is good.  It’s really important the group is pushing each other and everyone is pushing to play and that’s been the case. We know that needs to continue to be the case going forward but the group is in a good place, so we just need to stay focussed and keep working hard and be ready for Cork tomorrow.”