SSE Airtricity League
Friday March 11 2022
Tallaght Stadium, 8pm
Live on LOITV
The last time Kris Twardek faced Shamrock Rovers in Tallaght, Bohemians were aiming to leapfrog their rivals to move top of the table.
But an early Danny Lafferty goal in that September 2020 encounter was enough to seal victory for the home side and set Rovers on their way to winning the league.
Now in his second spell at Bohemians, Twardek, who turned 25 earlier this week, is aiming to make amends with an early-season victory over Stephen Bradley’s side.
He said: “The importance of the games when I was here last time was really high.
“Aside from the clear rivalry it was a case of us being second and Rovers being top of the league. We had a chance to move top after our game in Europe.
“Unfortunately they won that game 1-0 and we went on to finish second.
“But it is all to play for us now. It’s the start of the season and you have two teams with optimistic views for the year ahead. Rivalries aside, you just want to win at this stage of the season.
“It is too early to make judgments as to where teams are at. Things will shape up after 15 games or so. For us, if we can beat the top teams – obviously St Pat’s was a great result – then it is a great confidence boost for us to move forward.”
Twardek was grateful for some extra time on the training ground this week, but faces another quick turnaround with Bohs hosting Shelbourne in another Dublin derby at Dalymount on Monday.
He said: “It has been a good week and we have been able to lock in on what is an important game.
“I feel good and fresh. It’s nice to get a full week’s preparation for this game rather than the back-to-back Friday-Monday games we had last week, which was more about trying to recover than working on things on the pitch.”
Twardek is also grateful that among the 1000 travelling supporters roaring on Bohs tonight will be his brother and sister-in-law. Covid-19 has denied him such family support over the last two years.
He added: “My brother is coming over to the game with his wife, which will be nice! It’s rare for me to be able to have family at the games, so it’s great that they get to go to such a big one!”
For team-mate Ciarán Kelly, tonight could be an opportunity to stake his claim at centre-back with James Finnerty set to miss out with a knee injury.
Kelly replaced Finnerty during last Friday’s 1-1 draw away to Finn Harps and said: “It was a long trip up and it was not the result we wanted but it is nice to come away from there still undefeated for the season.
“Obviously now this is a huge game against Rovers. I played a good bit last season and this year I expected to come in and play but obviously that hasn’t been the case so far.
“I will try my best every time I get on the pitch. I was given some time against Finn Harps with James Finnerty going off. I want to play every minute I can.
“Rovers is a big Dublin derby but we have to treat every game the same. We know they have a talented squad with some great players but we are going there looking to win.”
He has also backed Bohs’ frontmen to click despite the absence of Promise Omochere, who is suspended for this game following his ludicrous red card against Finn Harps.
Kelly added: “Promise has been outstanding the last few games and towards the end of last season as well.
“He is a big strong boy who puts himself about but we have a good squad and everyone is chomping at the bit to be involved, so whoever comes in up front will be sure to do a good job for us.”
TEAM NEWS
Promise Omochere is suspended, while James Finnerty (knee) and Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe (ankle) are ruled out.
Liam Burt returned (groin) to training this week and is available for selection for the first time this season.
