Published: Wednesday, 7th April, 2010 5:00pm

Red cards give Athlone Town some selection headaches

Athlone Town's disciplinary problems in the early part of the season mean they face a serious midfield selection crisis when Shelbourne visit Lissywoollen on Saturday evening (7.30pm).

The Town have made a solid start to the 2010 campaign, garnering a respectable eight points from the opening five games and losing just once (away to Derry City), and they emerged from Monaghan Utd last weekend with a share of the spoils, despite again finishing the match at a numerical disadvantage.

Midfielder Gareth Kenna, who has shown up well in Athlone's opening fixtures, became the fourth Athlone player to be sent off in just five games, leaving manager Brendan Place to cope without both Kenna and Stephen Caffrey.

Experienced midfielder Caffrey was also sent off in a previous game against Mervue Utd, and despite already serving a one-game suspension for that offence, must serve an additional suspension this weekend.

Athlone are looking to maintain their unbeaten home record when Shelbourne come to town, and manager Brendan Place has enough belief in his squad to overcome the suspension difficulties.

Speaking after the scoreless draw in Monaghan, Place said: "Obviously our discipline is letting us down somewhat. That's four red cards in five games and you can't continue in that vein. It makes it very difficult to get continuity in our team selection and obviously tests the strength of the squad."

"The attitude of the players has been spot-on though, and you can't criticise their efforts so far. Gareth's red card was tough and go. He did go in a bit high but went for the ball. However, in modern football, you leave yourself open to a red card if you go in that high and get it wrong.

I thought it was probably a yellow card but, as I said, you leave yourself open to the possibility of getting sent off when you tackle like that," he added.

Robbie Benson could come into the midfield after missing the last couple of games while on duty with the Ireland Schools' side.

Kevin Dunne started against Derry City and is also a contender to come into the engine room, while left winger Tom O'Halloran might make the squad after missing the opening five games through a combination of international commitments with Ireland Schools and also some injury problems.

Des Hope picked up a nasty looking arm injury during the draw with Monaghan Utd but bravely soldiered on for the remainder of the game.

Place feels Hope will make for Shelbourne on Saturday and is full of praise for his defence, who have conceded just two goals in the opening five games.

"I think, as a team, we've shown great resolve this season," he said.

"There's a desire and hunger to not let teams settle and play against us, and the back five have been very solid to date. Brian McCarthy is improving game after game and Des Hope is unrecognisable from the player I saw when I first arrived at the club.

Des has developed into a top-class centre-half at this level and hopefully he'll be okay to play on Saturday.

Eoin O'Shea is a good, solid left-back, and made one terrific tackle in the second half against Monaghan.

He's getting better as the games go by, and Mark Nolan is a good right-back who gets forward whenever possible. Their backed up, of course, by Chris Bennion in goal, who has been a terrific addition to the club.

"Shelbourne are going to test our resolve. I watched them recently against Longford Town and they're much more attack-minded that in previous seasons.

They have plenty of firepower and have been free-scoring in recent games. They have conceded goals but Dermot Keely is a good manager and I think they'll be promotion contenders again this season.

We want to maintain our unbeaten home record and the players that are coming into the side in place of the suspended Gareth Kenna and Stephen Caffrey have a great chance to show their ability.

There are lads in the squad who probably feel their time has come to show what they're about.

Whoever comes in has to show what they can contribute and make it difficult for me to leave them out when everyone is available.

I think we showed the level of quality in our squad when fielding a so-called understrength team in the League Cup against Longford.

The lads showed that night they're capable of playing at this level," Place said.

On paper, Shelbourne would appear to be slightly less fearsome than last season, with the likes of striker Anto Flood, and defenders Damien Brennan and Kevin Doherty having departed.

However, Shels' are unbeaten this season and currently lie in second place with eleven points, and with the likes of David Cassidy, Paul Shiels and Dave McGill in midfield, are always going to be a tough proposition.

Eric Foley, signed on loan from Sporting Fingal, has also been chipping in with goals from midfield, but there is a train of thought that their defence is perhaps not as strong as in recent seasons.

Athlone will also be in action next Tuesday night when they travel to Premier Division UCD in the League Cup.