Oct 31,2024
Derry City manager Ruaidhrí Higgins has said that he won't be taking any risks with his injury-hit side when title-chasing Shelbourne visit the Ryan McBride Brandywell on Friday.
Up until a 1-0 defeat to St Patrick's Athletic last week, Derry had aspirations of lifting the league trophy themselves, but the club's attention has instead turned to next weekend's Sports Direct Men's FAI Cup Final against Drogheda United.
The Candystripes still have a big part to play in the title race, as victory or a draw against Damien Duff's Shels would see Shamrock Rovers crowned champions, if the Hoops overcome Waterford at home on the final night.
Derry's key quartet of Pat Hoban, Patrick McEleney, Mark Connolly and Ciaran Coll have all been injured during the title run-in and Higgins has suggested that he won't be taking any risks with the cup final playing on his mind.
"Obviously we have some injury concerns following on from last week." he said. "Having said that we'll still have a good enough team on the pitch to try and win a game of football.
"We won't be taking unnecessary or silly risks. I don't think that would make any sense. We'll still have a really good team on the pitch and a team that's capable of winning the game."
Higgins admitted that he has had to lift the mood after his side were knocked out of title contention but he was quick to praise Duff for taking Shelbourne to the brink of their first major honour since 2006.
"There's no point in lying, it's human nature that it was an extremely tough weekend but as the week's gone on, we've got them going again and I've no doubt that they'll be ready come Friday," Higgins said.
"They deserve an awful lot of credit. Over the three years, they've built and built and got to this point. Such fine margins but credit to them. We're representing this football club, we're a proud club and we want to finish the season on a high and win the game.
"It's been a crazy year in a lot of respects. As I said, fine margins but ultimately you end up where you deserve to end up. We'll be as professional as we can and try and win the game. It's our last home game of the season and we want to give them optimism for what's to come down the road."
Derry still have every reason to take Friday's task seriously, as a slip-up for St. Pat's away to Sligo Rovers could see Higgins' side take third place, and European football for the fourth consecutive year.
If that doesn't work out, they'll get a second bite of the cherry in the FAI Cup Final, as victory at the Aviva Stadium would have the club reaching for the passports.
"It's crazy in a lot of ways because a week ago, we were talking about possibly winning the league title and a week later you're talking about trying to qualify for Europe, which shows you the nature of it and how tight it is," said Higgins.
"It is what it is. We have to be extremely professional, we have a job to do. All we can focus on is trying to win our game and whatever happens elsewhere we have zero control of."
