The Irish after Saturday's poor display in the 1-1 draw with Bulgaria will be egar for a good positive result against group leaders Italy in Bari tomorrow night.
Aiden McGeady is a doubt after picking up a knee injury during Saturday's game while Damien Duff is out with a Hamstring tear.
Italy are without Antonio Di Natle who injured his knee on Saturday against Montenegro.
Sunday evening saw Athlone Town host promotion chasing Waterford United with a 17:00pm start.
Athlone came into this game ahead of Waterford in the table and unbeaten since the start of the season. 7 points from their opening 4 games.
Waterford were way off top spot with just 4 points from 3 games.
But Athlone took the lead on 69 minutes thanks to Noel McGee. But Waterford came back and levelled on 75 minutes with a William Kiely goal. Kiely would secure the win on 89 minutes to ensure Waterford move level with Athlone with 7 points.
Quiet alot of goals scored on Friday in the 1st Division and no doubt about the team of the Round this week. Sporting Fingal, the Dublin side recored an emphatic 8-0 away romp of Kildare County. Éamonn Zayed opened the scoring on 14 minutes before Conan Bryne (34) and a Robbie Doyle penalty on 43 minutes gave them a 3-0 lead at half-time. Zayed got his 2nd on the night on 49 minutes and Shaun Williams helped himself to 2 goals on 66 and 69 minutes. Conan Bryne got his 2nd on 78 minutes before former Cobh Ramblers' hitman Ross Gaynor wrapped up the scoring on 82 minutes.
But it is UCD who top the division along with Shelbourne on 12 points after a 4th straight win. Finn Harps were the latest victims. David McMillan's 2nd minute strike set the scoring off before Finn Harps levelled with Michael Funston on 12 minutes. But UCD won a penalty on 13 minutes which was converted by Ciaran Kilduff.
Shelbourne also kept up their 100% win record with a 1-0 win over Limerick FC. Anto Flood's 20th minute strike was enough for Shels.
Wexford Youths are off the bottom after a 2-1 win over Longford Town. Gavin Doyle gave Youths the lead on 4 minutes but Longford fought back and levelled 9 minutes into the 2nd half thanks to a goal from Brian McCarthy. But Youths railied and found the winner on 72 minutes with David Miller grabbing the win.
Monaghan United and Mervue United played a bottom of the table six-pointer with the newly promoted side from Galway getting a vital win. Mike Tierney gave Mervue the lead on 24 minutes before they doubled the lead on 83 minutes. Monaghan pulled a goal back on 84 minutes but couldn't find the winner.
Round 4 of the league concluded on Friday night with Galway United held to a 0-0 draw by Sligo Rovers in the Connaght derby. The match was live on tv and was the only game that had no goals. Galway are now 4th after this result. Sligo are in 9th place with 2 points.
Champions Bohemians top the table after beating Drogheda United 1-0 away at United Park. Brian Murphy scored the only goal on 24 minutes to send Bohs top with 10 along with Derry City who also have 10 points.
Shamrock Rovers suffered their first defeat at Tallaght Stadium when Derry City came away with a 2-1 win. Dessie Baker had given the Dublin side the lead on 68 minutes before goals from Stewart and Ciaran Martyn gave the candystripes another late win.
St Patrick's are now 3rd with 9 points after beating Dundalk 2-0 at Richmond Park. Mark Leech opened the scoring on 36 minutes before the win was secured by Kyle Morgan's goal on 78 minutes. Dundalk are now 8th with just 3 points.
Cork City finally recorded their first win of the season with a 2-1 win over Bray Wanderers at Turner's Cross. Guntars Silagailis twice scored on 26 minutes and 59 minutes before Bray's David Mulcahy pulled one back on 63 minutes.
Shelbourne made it 3 wins from 3 when defeating fellow promotion chasers Waterford united 1-0 with a late goal from Paddy Madden.
Sporting Fingal kept the 5 point gap up with a 2-0 home win over Wexford Youths with goals from Éamonn Zayed and Conan Bryne.
UCD are also joint top after their 3rd straight win this time over Monaghan United. UCD won 3-0.
The big match on Friday was the Big Dublin derby between champions Bohemians and Shamrock Rovers at Dalymount Park. But in what was a fantastic game it was the champions who ended up winning 2-0 thanks to Jason Bryne's two goals. Bryne scored from the spot on 17 minutes before he added a 2nd on 63 minutes.
Dundalk clashed with Drogheda United in the Louth derby but it was the home side who ran away with things. Chris Turner opened the scoring for the Oriel Park side before he added his 2nd on 48 minutes. A Darren Mansaram goal on 44 minutes completed the win.
Bray Wanderers remain unbeaten after 3 games but all three have been draws. But the home side had to rescue a point here as Galway United extended their good start. Vinny Faherty had given Galway a 8th minute lead before Paddy Kavanagh levelled the scores. Cian McBrien gave Galway the lead again on 21 minutes and with just 2 minutes to go Gary McCabe's penalty levelled the scores at 2-2. McCabe then missed another penalty late on.
Derry City moved into joint 1st place with a come-from behind win over Cork City at the Brandywell. Cork City had made the trip north to get their 1st win over the season and on 89 minutes they were 90 seconds away from victory. But then Ciaran Martyn levelled the scores in added time before Aaron Nash cancelled out Guntars Silgailis' opener for Cork. Cork are now 9th.
A Couple of surprising results on Round 2 with Cork City failing to beat St Patrick's at home the stand-out score. Former Rebel Darragh Ryan headed in the winner just 10 minutes into the game. But Cork had loads of chances to win the game.
Drogheda United got their 1st point of the season with a 0-0 draw against Bray Wanderers who claim their 2nd draw of the season.
Bohemians and Derry City played out a 1-1 draw with Killian Brennan on target for Bohs following Derry's 1st goal.
Shamrock Rovers returned home with a 2-1 win over Sligo in their new stadium. Goals from Twigg and Baker were enough despite Peers' goal for the visitors late on. Shamrock Rovers now have 4 points.
But the table after Round 2 is still lead by Galway United. Having brushed St Patrick's asside last week the Tribesmen recored a 1-0 win over Dundalk who are now bottom with nothing from their opening 2 games.
Round 1 of League of Ireland saw Galway United blow St Patrick's away with a superb 3-0 win. But Galway United will face a stern test in their 1st home game of the season. Dundalk are the visitors to Terryland Park on Friday and the newly promoted side will be eager to make amends after last week's cagy defeat. Seán Connor will be suspended having been sent-off last week and Dundalk could welcome back Darren Mansaram, who missed last week's game due to injury. Galway United will look to star man Jay O'Shea for tricks on the wing.
Champions Bohemians will host Derry City at Dalymount hoping to build on last week's win over Dundalk. Joseph Ndo could start having scored the winner last week. Derry City missed a host of chances last week but started with a 1-0 win over Drogheda. Liam Kearney could be in for a start.
Drogheda United will face Bray Wanderers in their 1st home game of the season. But having lost their squad over the winter Drogheda fans would like to start with a win. Bray drew last week and will want all 3 points on Friday.
Shamrock Rovers face Sligo Rovers and having both drawn last time out both will be looking for wins on Friday. For Shamrock Rovers a 1st ever game at their new Tallaght stadium is the highlight and for Sligo 3 points would suit them nicely as they look to march towards Europe.
Cork City dropped 2 points last Saturday at Sligo but with home advantage on Friday they could well have 3 more points. St Patrick's had a miserable defeat to Galway at home and will be up for this clash at Turners's Cross.
The remaining 6 teams got their seasons underway tonight and what a night it was. Waterford United ended up fustrated as they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Sporting Fingal. The Dublin side who are favourites for promotion this year will be disappointed with the scoreline.
Kildare County began what was supposed to be an 'A' Championship season with a draw. Newly relegated Finn Harps were eager to get a win to set them on the right-foot for their target this November but having fallen behind in this game to an Alan O'Riordan strike it was always goin to be difficult against a spirited Kildare side.
The final game of the night was a cracker of a game at Flancare park. Longford Town had an sensational dream start to the game. Colm Jinks gave Longford the lead on 10 minutes before Jason McCarthy made it 2-0 seconds later. It got better for Longford and they made it 3-0 a minutes later when Derek Glynn scored. But that start was soon to be cancelled out and Monaghan United pulled a goal back on 23 minutes thanks to Karl Bermingham. Monaghan got a 2nd goal on 36 minutes when Seán Brennan found the net. Longford did threaten for more goals but Monaghan rescued a point on 50 minutes when Tim Clancy cancelled out Longford start.
Sligo Rovers and Cork City started their campaigns with a 1-1 draw. A result not really favoured by either side as both will have European places on their minds this year.
Sligo Rovers were without their Portugues rock Mauro Almeida for this game but still kept Cork quiet for much of the game. Sligo Rovers had their chances to win the game but failed to put them away.
Former Bit O'Red favourite Fahrudin Koduzovic started for the Rebel Army but failed to score against his former club.
Cork City did take the lead late on in the game when Tralee native Billy Dennehy pounced on 86 minutes. Cork thought they had won until Stephan Parkhouse shot past Dan Connor.
So it finished 1-1 on the night and Paul Doolin's men will travel down to Cork with a point.
Newcomers Mervue United ended the night with a defeat but at 1-0 it wasn't a trashing. Athlone Town can into this game with probloms of their own after concerns for their future during pre-season but got off to a good start. Noel McGee got the vital goal.
UCD marked their return to the 1st Division with a 2-1 home win over Limerick FC. The win sets UCD on the right-foot as they look to bounce back from last years disappointment.
Former giants Shelbourne are also off to a 100% start after recording a 2-1 win over Wexford Youths. Shelbourne are one of the favourites to go up this year and have started strongly.
The Season finally arrived with 4 fixtures taking place on Friday night the pick of which was Dundalk hosting Bohemians in their first Premier League fixture since 2002.
Dundalk featured a host of new signings including George O'Callaghan formally of Cork City and he played in what ended in disappoitment for the Louth Side.
Joseph Ndo headed the games only goal when mussled between two defender looped his header over Bennion.
Bray Wanderers held Shamrock Rovers to a 0-0 draw at the Carlisle Grounds but Shamrock Rovers will see this as 2 points dropped very early on.
Derry City did just enough to power past Alan Matthew's new-look Drogheda United side. Mark Farren was on target at the Brandywell.
However it is Galway United who top the table after day 1 after a surprise thumping of St Patrick's. Declan O'Brien helped himself to two goals and Vinny Faherty also found the net as Galway cruised to a surprise away win over former coach Jeff Kenna.
Tomarrow it is Sligo Rovers hosting Cork City in the last of Day 1 fixtures. That kicks-off at 20:00pm GMT at the Showgrounds.
Cobh Ramblers were looking rosy in November 2007 when a 1-0 win over Athlone Town secured promotion to the League of Ireland. But a season of struggle and bad luck followed and were eventually relegated. The club who went into examinership like Cork rivals Cork City FC lost a chunk of their squad with players joining Waterford United and Dublin clubs.
But Cobh's misery didn't end there. They were refused a licence for the 1st divison for 2009 meaning they will play 2009 in the 3rd tier. The agony of relegation was bad but double relegation has killed the spirits of the club. The club are looking for new players and have appointed Dave Hill as manager as they look to return to the 1st division for 2010.
Sligo Rovers have added another Portuguese player to their squad with the signing of Idáilo Alexandre Ferreira.
Simply known as 'Xano' the former Eastbourne Borough striker has played for Académica in the Superliga.
Xano joins fellow native Mauro Almeida on the squad list at Rovers.
Drogheda United's new boss Alan Matthews has wasted no time in adding to a Drogheda United squad that has been shreaded following the period of examinership.
The Drogs who have seen their 2008 squad break-up and go here there and everywhere have signed Steve Williams to keep goal for them in 2009. Williams, formally of Shelbourne who suffered something similar in 2006 with the squad break-up.
Jaime Duffy has signed from fellow Co.Louth side Dundalk as has Robbie Farrell and David O'Connor. Alan Matthews has also added John-Paul Kelly to his squad from champions Bohemians. Connor Kenna has also joined from UCD.
The Drogs have lost Éamon Zayed to Sporting Fingal in the 1st divsion.
