Dundalk have been drawn at home to Bohemians in the semi finals of the EA Sports Cup. It's the first time Bohs have been this far in the competition since 2014.
The other tie will see defending champions Derry City welcome Waterford to the Ryan McBride Brandywell. Both ties are due to take place on Bank Holiday Monday, August 5th.
Dundalk booked their place in the last four last night with a 3-1 win at home to UCD. The victory was the Lilywhites' tenth win in 11-games, and manager Vinny Perth was happy to share the responsibility for their fine form, "It's been a really good run of form, and that's been done as a club. The support's been really inspiring for the players - they speak about it in training. Teams have made it difficult for us here [at Oriel Park] in particular. We've needed the home support, and Oriel's becoming a real fortress. And it's not necessarily all down to what we're doing on the pitch, it's what's happening in the stands."
Despite the comfortable nature of the win, Perth says there's plenty of room for improvement, "We'd like to keep the ball a little bit better, but because we go Friday-Monday, Friday-Monday it's difficult to put a lot of shape on that team.
"The club has really backed this team over the last year since they've come in with the new owners. The problem is, they haven't all played together in the same combinations. Our midfield three of Jarvis, Flores and Mountney wouldn't have played together that much, so there's going to be that little bit of rustiness.
"The strength-in-depth in the squad is really good, but we've lost another guy in Cameron Dummigan, who we have high hopes for but he's just been really unfortunate. It was another impact injury. He got injured before the start [of the game], he tried to play on with it but it was a little bit of ligament damage after a tackle. Hopefully it's not too serious for him because he's getting closer and closer to putting real pressure on Sean Gannon who has probably been our best player over the last six-weeks."
Gartland 💥
Mountney 🎯
G. Kelly 🆒
🎥 Highlights from Oriel Park as we booked our place in the #EASPORTSCup, semi-final. 🙌 pic.twitter.com/XMqQD6fVu2— Dundalk FC (@DundalkFC) May 27, 2019
Bohs earned their first semi final spot since 2014 with a 2-0 win at home to Cork City. The Bohs goals came from a pair of St. Kevin's Boys graduates in Ross Tierney and Danny Mandroiu. They'll view the tie as a chance for retribution. Keith Long's side have been beaten twice by injury time Pat Hoban penalties in both of their SSE Airtricity Premier Division trips to Oriel Park this season.
The tangerine dream team helping @bfcdublin into the semi final of the cup tonight, Ross and Dano on the scoresheet #partnership 🔶⚫️🔴 pic.twitter.com/PAScA0AQRi
— St Kevin's Boys FC (@stkevinsboysfc) May 27, 2019
Derry City needed extra-time last night to secure a fourth consecutive EA Sports Cup semi final berth. David Parkhouse scored twice as Declan Devine's Candystripes came from behind to beat Finn Harps 2-1 at the Ryan McBride Brandywell.
And it's Waterford who'll make the long trip to the Brandywell to face Derry. It was a peach of a free-kick from Scott Twine that gave the Blues a 1-0 victory away to Bray in last night's quarter final.
15’ GOALLL BLUES 1-0 - Akinade fouled on the edge of the area and Scott Twine brilliant finds the back of the net. #BWFCvWFC pic.twitter.com/ufpOJxvUq2
— Waterford FC (@WaterfordFCie) May 27, 2019
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