Ben Doherty hailed a 'revelation' after a flying start to the season

Derry City vs. Drogheda United

Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium

Friday, 7:45pm

Ruaidhri Higgins has described Ben Doherty as ‘a revelation’ after a flying start to the new season with his hometown club.

Doherty returned to the Brandywell from Larne back in January and has been a regular starter under Higgins ever since. Although he didn’t feature in the opening game of the season at St. Patrick’s Athletic, he has played every minute since.

As well as playing his part in four clean sheets in those six games from a wing-back position, Doherty has shown his attacking prowess with one goal and three assists. Doherty, Ryan Graydon and Will Patching in fact all have three assists each at this early stage.

“We brought Ben Doherty to the club because I felt, when I went to watch him a couple of times in the off season at Larne, he could be a real attacking left-back for us and he would be a fantastic addition,” Higgins reflected.

“People remember the 20-year-old that left here and that’s their last memory of him because they haven’t seen him play in the last five years, but when I went to see him play, his physical output in games, his running power, his delivery with his left foot, and his ability to get into advanced areas, I visualised him in the team and straight away I went after him. It just happened that Larne wanted a player from us as well and it worked out in the end and he has been a revelation to be honest since he came here.

“There is a good spread of assists around the team and we need everyone to chip in to be a successful team.”

Three points in Dublin at any time delights any Derry City fan, but Higgins remains particularly pleased with the manner in which his team won at Shelbourne last week.

“I loved the way we won as strange as that may sound,” he explained. “It was a rotten night, the pitch was cut up badly with big divots everywhere and rain. It was just a rotten night and to go down and win 1-0 from a set-play; it’s not normally how I’d like to win a game of football, but I just felt for the group and the mentality of the group it was a brilliant win.”

While City remain unbeaten and are just three points off Bohemians at the top of the Premier Division, the season has been significantly challenging for Higgins and the players on and off the pitch, making their start to the season even more impressive.  

“It was ever set up for a night to get beat, it was last Friday,” Higgins conceded. “We knew that to win the game we would have to fight and we fought. In the opening 25 minutes I thought we were excellent, really good free-flowing and then as the weather got worse and the longer it went on, the pitch got heavier and the middle of it became terrible and we had to dig it out.

“We would have liked to have done a wee bit better. We created more chances eleven vs. eleven than we did eleven vs. ten, but I actually think that it didn’t make much of a difference because of the night that was in it. It was just an ugly, wet, cold night and we just had to be professional and keep them at arm’s length and we did that really well.”

Duffy on track

Meanwhile, Michael Duffy remains on course to return to full fitness in the coming weeks after another frustrating spell on the sidelines.

Duffy was all set to start in the first game of the season at St. Patrick’s Athletic, but injured his calf in the warm-up before the game and has missed every game since. There is still no date put on a return for the 28-year-old, but Higgins is happy to be patient.

“Michael has gone through his whole career without getting injured until he came here,” he said. “He’s a robust athlete but he’s just had really bad luck. We’ll get it right with him and he’ll get it right and when we introduce him to the team, I think we all know what he’s capable of. I don’t want to put any pressure on him. Michael is at his best when he feels free and enjoying it so there’s no pressure from our end.

“You seen in the cup final last year when he got himself into real peak condition, that performance was a Michael Duffy performance, so I think we’ll see that in the not-too-distant future.

He loves playing football. When he’s fit, he’s first on the training pitch and last off it. He’s one of those lads who just loves playing football and it will be annoying him. I want him to come back and feel free and enjoy his football because when he does that, there’s nobody like him in the country.”