Friday, June 20, 2008

FRIDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL ...... THE MAGIC MONS

IRELAND
DIVISION 1

WEXFORD YOUTHS- MONAGHAN UNITED

Irish football has now restarted after the short, three week, mid season break, actually, for most clubs it was just two weeks, with a cup game to play, after the completion of league duties.

I am making the visitors my selection, despite not having scored in 5 starts and being without their best player ! Playmaker Ian Maher being suspended this evening.

However, United were playing well before the break, without getting any breaks in front of goal, including in a 0-0 cup draw with Premier league side UCD, where they more than held their own.

In Wexford, they are meeting a side, struggling just as much in the goalscoring department, with just one goal in six outings. So, a goal fest is unlikely tonight, well, maybe not. As we have discussed before, when two struggling sides meet, there are often goals and the last 5 meetings between these two have all produced 2+ goals, the two fixtures here, averaging 5 per game.It would not surprise me if this was also "over".

However, I feel the better bet, is taking the visitors with the handicap start, as I said recent performances have shown promise and Youths, as the name might suggest, are very short on experience and have six likely starters aged 19 or under, actually four could be sub 18, that is way too young and is the core of their problems. Before the break they failed to break down non league side Killester United at home in the cup, infact, they were fortunate not to lose. They meet a tougher opponent tonight and are set to struggle again, the visitors will take heart from their two wins here last season and the number of chances they created in the first meeting this campaign.

5 points Monaghan United +1/4 2.09 asian line.

Good Luck.

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