Keith Long sees no bounds to Bohemians’ ambitions

While seeing no reason why his side can't maintain their excellent start to the season, Bohemians manager Keith Long doesn't want anyone at the club to be getting ahead of themselves.

Cork City arrive at Dalymount Park on Monday reeling from their home defeat to champions and leaders Dundalk.

And while their visitors aspire to challenging strongly for the title again this year, Long sees no bounds to Bohemians ambitions as they target moving up to third place in the table.

“It’s no longer a question of just a good start,” said Long, who has a full squad to choose from. “The league doesn’t lie and 20 points from 10 games is a decent return.

“We’ve surprised many people so far and we’ve probably surprised ourselves, to a certain extent. But I believe in the players and in the mentality of this group and I think there’s more in them.

“We have everybody available and we need everybody pushing to achieve whatever it is we can achieve. At this stage, we don’t know what that is, but we cannot and will not get ahead of ourselves.”

Having lost their unbeaten start, Cork manager John Caulfield wants the right response from his players.

“Last year after a defeat, we reacted very, very well,” said Caulfield. “[Monday] is a big game for us. We need to react well and we need to get a positive result.”

Apart from captain John Dunleavy, who has undergone knee surgery, Cork hope to be at full strength.

Unchanged

With no suspension or injury concerns, Dundalk expect to be unchanged as they host struggling Bray Wanderers at Oriel Park.

Midfielder Graham Kelly (foot) is Bray's only doubt as they strive for an improved performance following last week's 5-0 home mauling from Galway United.

In Saturday’s matches Limerick snatched a 94th-minute equaliser through Paul O’Conor at the Showgrounds after Dinny Corcoran had given Sligo Rovers the lead while Longford and Derry City drew 0-0.