Heary will not want to take chances with players who are less than fully fit, as he expects the derby to be “pacey” and “asking a lot of the players”.

“It will be a chance for other players to come in and play for their positions. Hopefully, they’ll take that opportunity,” he said.

Ryan McEvoy and Keith Buckley, ‘veterans’ of many Bohs-Rovers games, are likely to feature. “Bucko is a good player and he’s a bit unfortunate that Kevin Devaney has been playing so well. But Bucko knows what to expect coming into a game like Tuesday’s. He has that bit of experience.”

Heary thought his side were “unfortunate not to get three points” from Friday’s “scrappy enough” game in Athlone. “But our attitude was right going into the game and we took the game to them.  We need to have the same attitude on Tuesday.”

“But the positive thing for me was that we didn’t go out with a whimper. We gave it everything.”

Bohemians are now fully concentrated on securing maximum points from the remaining league games to secure at least a mid-table finish.

“Last year the target was to avoid relegation, this year eighth or better, next year we’ll be aiming to go higher. If we can keep the basis of the team we now have for next season, we can improve further.”

Training has focused on set-pieces as half of the ten goals conceded in the last four games have come that source.

“We tidied up on that during the year, so it’s disappointing that we conceded from set pieces in recent games when we were well in the game or getting back into it,” said Heary. “That’s down to a lack of concentration and maybe thinking we’re safe.”

Bohemians face an Athlone side with a target to make it into the play-offs at worst. “Athlone have done well over recent weeks, they’ve turned a corner and I’m they’ll be fired up for Friday,” said Heary.

All Bohemians’ opponents in the coming games, including next Tuesday’s opposition, Shamrock Rovers, still with European ambitions, have something to fight for. “We have all the top teams, bar Dundalk, to play and I’m sure the fans would like to see us compete against these teams.”

For Friday Bohemians will be without Eoin Wearen (suspended), Ryan McEvoy (back injury), Dan Byrne (cruciate) and Anto Murphy (ankle). However, Murphy has returned to training and may make it back for next weekend.

His return would be a boost to the team, which has had to be shuffled and reshuffled to cover for absences at the back. Last Friday Steven Beattie was at left back, having earlier played at right back, on the wing and in attack.

“He has played every position except in goal. With our resources, those are kind of players we have to sign, who can play in numerous positions,” said Heary. Along with Beattie, Derek Pender, Kevin Devaney, Dave Mulcahy, Roberto Lopes and Keith Buckley are among those who have featured in two positions or more.

“It will be a difficult game. They are in form themselves, not conceding goals. It’s a big ask for the lads but it’s one that they are all geared towards. When you come to the quarter-final stages, it’s all up for grabs.”

In three matches this season it has been honours even: Bohemians won at Dalymount in the EA Sports Cup, St Pat’s won at Inchicore in the league and the sides drew at Dalymount in their league encounter two months ago.

“For the club, this is massive,” said Heary. “If we get through to the semi-final, it’s extra finance and we can start thinking about getting to Europe, and that would be really massive, not only for the fans.”

Bohemians come to Friday’s game from a 3-2 defeat in Sligo on Monday. But Heary takes comfort from his side’s performance and believes they deserved something from the game.

“We were unfortunate not to get a result. A poor refereeing decision probably cost us getting something from the game,” he said. “We played extremely well, created a lot of chances and we could have scored more.”

Dave Mulcahy and Jason Byrne were rested on Monday and Eoin Wearen served an automatic suspension for his red card the previous Friday.

All three are available for the cup tie and they, along with Dinny Corcoran, Kevin Devaney and Karl Moore, who were on the bench for the first 70 minutes against Sligo, may be starters. Only long-term injuries, Anto Murphy (ankle) and Dan Byrne (cruciate), are ruled out.

The Sligo game was an opportunity for Heary to give game-time to other players whom he expects to call on again before the end of the season. Adam Evans (20) and Jake Hyland (19) made their first starts in the league and Hyland scored, bringing his tally to four goals in four games for the senior team. “Jake’s a good player and he’ll probably get more game-time this season,” said Heary.

Paddy Kavanagh returned to the starting line-up after a spell on the bench and was “excellent”.

Bohemians bring strong cup form and away form to Friday’s derby. They had three wins in the EA Sports Cup before going out, and they have beaten Premier Division opposition twice to get to the FAI Cup quarter-finals.

Bohemians have maintained a positive goal difference in away league matches, a record shared only with the top four in the table. They have had four of their seven league victories on the road.

Improved form in recent weeks is stirring interest in some Bohemian players. “That’s a killer, because we can’t compete with the top teams and we don’t want to be starting fresh again,” said Heary.

“If we do get to a cup final we might have that bit extra to help us keep more players.”

With one eye on Friday’s Ford FAI Cup quarter-final against St Patrick’s Athletic, Heary acknowledges the need to make changes but is adamant he will send out a side capable of winning all three points.

“It’s not an ideal time to have a game,” he said. “We’ve a massive cup game on Friday away to the league champions.

“But the team we put out in Sligo can’t allow that to distract them. The starting XI we put out will be good enough to go there and try to win.

“The players have confidence now and we’ve shown we are well capable of beating the top teams. We want that to continue.

“We don’t sit back – we want to get on the front foot, be positive and take games to the opposition as we have done.”

One enforced change will see Eoin Wearen watch the game from the stands as he serves a ban for a red card picked up against Bray on Friday.

“It was a silly red card,” added Heary. “It was a moment of madness but there is no point in us going on about it.

“He’s gutted with himself so as a team, we will rally behind him.

“Win, lose or draw, we do it as a team, so we will all get behind him and pick him back up.”

Heary is also without young defender Stephen Best (ankle) as well as long-term absentees Dano Byrne (cruciate) and Anto Murphy (ankle).

The Seagulls come to Friday’s game with just one win in the league in 14 matches. But that victory came last week against UCD and Heary knows Bray will give them a fight.

“They’ll be looking at this game and saying, if they win, they’re only a couple of points off us, though we have games in hand.

“We have to keep our heads on. Bray will be missing a few players but we mustn’t start to think, ‘This will be easy’.”

Games against Bray have marked important turning points for Bohemians this season and last. Heary started his tenure as Bohemian manager with a 3-1 victory in Bray in July 2013.

A 5-0 win at the Carlisle Grounds in June was Bohs’ best result of this season and started a run of seven leagues matches unbeaten in nine.

Dinny Corcoran scored a hat-trick in that match and last week he kept up his impressive strike record with a “another cracking goal” against league leaders Dundalk.

“Facing Dundalk with some key players missing, the lads put in a tremendous performance. We just got a bit tired in the last 15 minutes,” said Heary.

“We have shown we’re capable of giving anyone a good game on the day. If we lose and we have given it everything, like last week, we’ll hold up our hands say, ‘Fair enough’.

“The pleasing thing for me is that the players came off disappointed, and that shows you how far we have come. They’re coming off saying they should have got something from the game.”

Dave Mulcahy returns for Friday but Steven Beattie (suspension) must sit out one more match. Anto Murphy (ankle) and Dan Byrne (cruciate) remain on the long-term injury list.

After three matches in eight days, Bohemians face into seven games over a month but Heary is proud of how his squad have faced the rigours of league and cup campaigns. “It’s a tough schedule but the lads have stood up well to it.”

Former Bray icon Jason Byrne has played consecutive games and “he’s enjoying it”, according to his long-time associate, Heary. “He’s playing with a smile on his face and I’m sure he’ll start hitting the net again.”

With the glut of matches Heary expects to use his full squad. But the younger players who are also in the senior squad now have a new under-19 campaign starting this week.

Former Drogheda United manager Robbie Horgan took over this week from Bobby Browne as under-19 manager. “I want to thank Bobby for everything he has done for the club and to wish Robbie and the under-19s the very best of luck for this season,” said Heary.

Pic by Eddie Lennon – eddielennonsportingimages.com