Galway United may feel they could have been handed a better time to go to Oriel Park in the wake of Friday’s games which left the Champions feeling aggrieved and, it seems, looking for someone to take their sense of injustice out on.

Stephen Kenny believes his side were hard done by in the 2-2 draw in Tallaght where referee Neil Doyle gave a penalty and a red card out for something the Dundalk boss believes was fair play and outside the box. Now Tommy Dunne's men may have to cope with the backlash.

“Overall, the players did very well,” he says, “but we’re disappointed with that big, big call to give the penalty and have the goalkeeper (Gary Rogers) sent off.

“You have to be sure that it’s inside the box and you have to be sure that it’s a bloody foul. We’re raging a bit but there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Bounce back

Except, that is, bounce back with a win to take the title holders into Friday night’s first visit of the campaign to second-placed Cork City and, while he readily acknowledges that Galway arrive off the back of a win, he believes they will to have it put up to them.

“Our home form is formidable, we have broken Dundalk’s all-time record for unbeaten games at home. We feel that the Oriel Park crowd gives us a real energy, there’s a great connect and they really get behind the team.

“Certainly, we don’t intend dropping any points. We want to go and win the game and be convincing about that. Galway have good players and I respect the job that Tommy Dunne has done there in getting them promoted.

"But from our point of view, we're very focused and very driven and we are not going to let up, absolutely not . . . we're absolutely going for the jugular against Galway."

Tonight's games (all 7.45pm kick-offs): Bray Wanderers v Shamrock Rovers, Cork City v Longford Town, Dundalk v Galway Utd, Limerick v Derry City, St Patrick's Ath v Drogheda Utd, Sligo Rovers v Bohemians.