“The lads will keep fighting away” | Tommy Barrett backs resilient squad after Bray Wanderers defeat

Talisman Enda Curran is sorely missed, and with Yoyo Mahdy seemingly joining David Tarmey on the injury list, things are looking stretched up front.

Tommy Barrett has said that his Treaty United side “have to stay nice and relaxed,” as they continue to search for a League of Ireland First Division victory.

The Shannonsiders, who are without a league win since March 1, fell to another defeat away to Bray Wanderers last Friday.

Speaking after the game, Barrett said he felt his team were “unlucky” and heaped praise on the young players who have played their part amidst an injury crisis that is ravishing the Treaty squad. Among them Leon Kirrane, who scored his first and the Limerick side’s only goal of the game on Friday evening.

“The first goal was probably a free out, Ben was fouled, maybe he needs to hit the deck. It was a good finish, but I thought we had all the chances, we had the better of the play. We were just a bit unlucky tonight, I felt we played well. Particularly with the squad we have currently I thought the young lads did very well, the whole team played very well.”

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Barrett admitted it has been difficult dealing with the large number of injuries to his squad, but said his side have been “punching above our weight” for years.

Talisman Enda Curran is sorely missed, and with Yoyo Mahdy seemingly joining David Tarmey on the injury list, things are looking stretched up front.

Kirrane, Fionn Doherty and Sean Costelloe, among others, have all seen game time in recent weeks, and Barrett says they will only get better with experience.

“Of course it’s difficult, but that’s the squad we have, where else would we be? We’re saying it for years now we’re punching above our weight and we still are this year in my opinion. It’s great to see these young lads coming on, we need to get them training a bit more in the next year or two to get that experience because it’s a lot faster for them, it’s high intensity but we’re happy for them to get the minutes.”

Now without a win in their last seven, alarm bells could be ringing for the Shannonsiders, but the Treaty boss stressed that “there’s loads of time left,” and that his charges “don’t need to panic”.

Their last win was away to Kerry FC on March 1, a result that was followed with a pair of draws at home to Bray and Cork City. Then came the three game losing streak, as Finn Harps, Athlone Town and Wexford all took maximum points against Treaty. They steadied the ship with a recent draw against Kerry but last Friday’s loss means they had taken just three points from the last possible 21.

Barrett described his squad as “a resilient bunch” and has full confidence they will bounce back.

“There’s loads of time left, we don’t need to panic now, I don’t know how many players we have out injured, probably seven or eight, probably Yoyo is the ninth. Half our squad is under 21! It’s a real young squad and to have the amount of players out injured at the moment is not an excuse it’s the reality of it at the moment.It’s just the way it has fell upon us this year, we’ve lost a lot of senior players over the last number of years, but look the lads will keep fighting away and they’re a resilient bunch so there’s no panic here, there’s a long way to go we just have to stay nice and relaxed.”

Treaty’s attention now turns to the visit of second placed UCD to the Markets Field this Friday. The sides met in the second game of the season, as the Shannonsiders got an important win in the capital.