DERRY CITY boss Ruaidhrí Higgins hailed his side’s character as some of the manager’s selection decisions were vindicated amid a thrilling 3-2 win at Bohemians on Friday night.
The Candystripes looked well in control for a sustained period in the second half with the score at 3-1, before a stunning Dawson Devoy long-range strike late on set up a tense climax.
“All that was going through my head was Georgie Kelly’s goal in the 95th minute last season [for Bohemians against Derry],” Higgins said of the frantic finish.
“But we stood up, the players embraced the challenge, the number of crosses we defended and they deserve a pat on the back tonight, particularly when you take into consideration who we don’t have available here.”
It continued an upturn in fortune for Derry. They had previously earned a 1-0 victory away to UCD to end a seven-game winless run.
“I think people can read a lot into results,” Higgins told reporters. “But when you actually sit back from a football perspective and analyse those games, there were a lot of them we deserved a lot more from, we just didn’t take our chances.
“We’ve scored three goals here tonight but in other games — Drogheda at home, St Pat’s at home where we drew, those two games are just jumping out at me — the game should have been over very early on and we created a lot more chances in those games than we’ve done here.”
Against a Bohs team who now trail the Candystripes by 14 points in the table, Higgins opted for an attacking lineup.
Patrick McEleney and Will Patching anchored the midfield in front of a three-man defence and wing-backs, while Joe Thomson was picked in the more advanced role behind strikers Matty Smith and James Akintunde.
Former Celtic youngster Thomson caught the eye with a deft lob to put his side in front, while McEleney and Patching coped well with their respective duties.
“Rennie [Alan Reynolds, the assistant boss] thought I was mad playing the two of them together,” he said. “But Patrick’s getting there [after coming back from injury]. The games will be great for him. Will’s outstanding. People think because they’re creative footballers they can’t play together — I don’t believe that. Both of them know how to scrap and pick up second balls, so there’s no doubt they can play together.”
Another player to impress was Caoimhin Porter. With Eoin Toal, Cameron Dummigan and Ronan Boyce all out injured, the relatively inexperienced 20-year-old who only made his senior debut last year was selected at right wing-back.
Before going off injured, Porter had a big influence, playing the ball up to Thomson for the opener and putting in a superb cross for Matty Smith’s second, just after Bohs had equalised through Ali Coote.
“I don’t know, we’ll have to wait to see what it is,” Higgins said of the knock that forced the youngster off. “But his cross for the second goal, what a time to get it, straight after them equalising. It’s an outstanding cross and you’ve seen against Drogheda in the first half, he’s put in four or five brilliant crosses and that’s what he’s capable of. There’s loads of room for improvement, in different aspects, but in terms of getting forward and putting crosses in the box, he’s excellent.”
Perhaps with one eye on Thursday’s Europa Conference League first leg at home to Riga of Latvia, Brandon Kavanagh and Jamie McGonigle — two frequent starters — were on the bench on Friday.
“We just wanted to freshen it up and James Akintunde has a brilliant record against Bohemians. Joe Thomson’s running power from midfield, he got the first goal from that run. Brandon and Joe are completely different types of players but we just felt that this was the right one to leave Brandon out and Brandon has been brilliant, a breath of fresh air around the place and has a great future in the game. But we felt for tonight, that it was the right thing for this particular game.
“We treat every game in isolation. We know what way we’re going to go against Riga but I won’t be telling you.”
And Higgins is expecting a difficult test as his men aim to progress to the second qualifying round.
“They’re a good side and very well backed financially. They don’t get massive crowds but they’ve good resources and a lot of good players. If you look at the pedigree of some of their players and the profile and where they’ve been, they have a lot of real talent and we’ll have to be at our very best to get through the tie.”
Seems to be fairly grounded. Best of luck to him!
Wow. That closing piece of advice is powerful for a 16 year old. I like him already.
Not going to be popular but gaa is the main reason Ireland isn’t producing more professional sports people. Nothing against gaa but young kids are playing a sport they can’t make a living from when they may make a career from another sport with the same input.
@Harry Trafford: that is of no fault of the GAA to be fair. It’s up to the FAI to attract these young players to their product…every country faces the same issue, sports competing with other sports to attract young participants. Ireland is no different.
@Harry Trafford: not everything is about money. For some playing gaa and having a good job etc is enough for them. They play the sport and can obtain legendary local status. For others it’s about chasing huge wads of cash in a more commercial industry overseas with huge failure rates. Retire & play golf & grow a beer belly. Different folks, different strokes. As long as you’re happy. That’s the main thing.
@Ottomaaan: I agree the FAI need to pull the finger out. Ireland have some of the best sports people in the world right across the board. Just the article mentions a career in GAA but it’s an amature sport, all be it played with a professional attitude.
@Ronan McDermott: a career in sport isn’t all about money, not everyone makes massive wads of cash only the very small majority. I’m not referring to just becoming a footballer. You can make a decent wage in most sports at a professional level.
@Harry Trafford: I hear you. Not disagreeing with you as such. Lots of sports have salary caps etc. By being involved with gaa you could have a very good job arranged with a sponsor etc. So technically you’d still be making money with a company that’ll work around your schedule.
@Ronan McDermott: very small minded, being a top footballer against the billions that play or the the top hurler against the 100s that play
@tubbsyf: I’m not small minded at all. Different folks, different strokes is all I said.
“Stay committed to doing it. Don’t go over there and think you’ve made it. You’re only playing 18s football. You haven’t made it anywhere yet, so keep your head down and keep working away.” Sounds like Roy Keane got to him.
I think this is a story the GAA need to be cery cognisant of. The way the competitions are set up now you only have a few counties who are ever likely to win anything with back doors, super 8′s etc making it almost impossible for one of the “smaller” teams like wicklow to hold onto or encourage their best players to stick with the support. The constant push for revenue generated by the biggest counties making finals is seeing the players from the top counties putting in even more effort in the knowledge they might win something while concurrently you have teams from weaker counties who are saying upwards of 40 players are refusing to come into their County set ups.
@Dino Baggio: This is vividly highlighted in Munster where they seed the draw to have Cork and Kerry in the football final every year even though Cork are at best the third best team in Munster and the likes of Limerick footballers are struggling to get players to commit. The drain of players to pro sports is going to get worse unless the Gaa address this issue.
Only just came across this article. Conor was with Mill Celtic from the age of 11 before joining Newbridge Town at 13. He was in the KDUL Academy from 11 and played inter league at u 12 and u 13. Not sure where the only playing soccer since 14 is coming from
Bully Beef?