Treaty Return to Action with Trip to Wexford

Treaty United return to SSE Airtricity League First Division action with a trip to Ferrycarrig Park to take on Wexford FC on Friday night (7.45pm). Manager Tommy Barrett will be hoping that his squad are refreshed and ready for action following a two week break since the defeat against Waterford FC.

Friday night marks the beginning of the third round of fixtures in the league with Treaty currently occupying the final play-off place in fifth with Friday’s opponents just three points worse off in sixth place. With Galway, Cork and Waterford running away with the first three positions and Longford building a healthy cushion in fourth place, it looks as though the final play-off place will be decided between Treaty, Wexford and Bray so tomorrow night’s game could have a bearing on the outcome although there are 16 games remaining.

Treaty are on a winless run which stretches back eight games after the 4-0 defeat to Waterford and the Limerick side will be desperate to avail of the opportunity of putting a 6 point cushion between themselves and their play-off rivals. The biggest concern for Barrett in recent weeks has been the concession of sloppy goals which was evident against Waterford, Cobh and Bray in particular. Furthermore, Treaty have now lost the services of Charlie Fleming due to work commitments. Fleming will be a loss for Treaty as he made 42 appearances in his 16 months with the club; 40 of which were starts.

The one benefit of the break is that Treaty will be hoping that the likes of Steven Christopher, Enda Curran and Jack Lynch will be back in contention to feature against Ian Ryan’s team who were given a huge boost by the manager’s commitment to the club despite apparent recent interest from first division rivals Waterford. Wexford and Treaty have already faced each other on two occasions in the league this season with the Markets Field outfit coming out on top in both encounters.

On the opening day of the season, Treaty romped to 1-5 victory at Ferrycarrig Park with goals from Conor Melody, Enda Curran x2, Lee Devitt and Joe Gorman. In the return fixture at the Markets Field, Treaty gained a dramatic victory as Willie Armshaw earned his team a last minute penalty and Steven Christopher coolly scored to give the home team victory at the Garryowen venue. Wexford have shown plenty of attacking threat to worry Treaty with the likes of Dinny Corcoran and Jack Doherty well known to the defence but with Treaty scoring 7 goals in 2 games against the South-East side, they will be confident of extending their good run against them tomorrow night.

On Saturday evening, Treaty United senior women’s side travel to Turners Cross to take on Cork City in a crucial game. Treaty recently picked up their first point of the season when they drew 0-0 with Sligo but they were unable to build on that result as they succumbed to a 0-4 home defeat against DLR Waves last weekend. Cork are 5 points ahead of Don O’Riordan’s side in second bottom and it is a great opportunity for the Limerick side to close the gap. Cork were recently taken over by former Cork City player Danny Murphy.

To hear the views of our Sporting Limerick soccer analyst Noel O’Connor, click on the link below.