Derry City hoping for win over Shelbourne to secure European football again

Derry City vs. Shelbourne

Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium

Friday, 7:45pm

Derry City can secure European football for the third successive season with a win over Shelbourne on Friday night, and that is the sole focus for Ruaidhri Higgins in the penultimate home game of the season.

While the league title is not mathematically beyond the Candystripes, Higgins believes it will take ‘a miracle’ for Shamrock Rovers to blow their advantage, needing just five points from their remaining four games.

That leaves Europe, and, given the extraordinary memories created this year in the Europa Conference League, reaching that goal is the least Higgins wants to achieve between now and the end of the season.

“It’s a big game for us,” he agreed. “We’ve been very, very good at the Brandywell from early summer onwards and we want to continue that with a big vocal home support behind us.

“We’ve good numbers available. Evan McLaughlin has come back into the fold in the last few weeks. He’s had a long-standing health issue that’s kept him out for the last six or seven months and it’s great to see him return. He’s now been training for the past few weeks and he’s getting fitter and we have good numbers available for the game.”

Shelbourne have their own hopes of sneaking into a European spot before the season ends, and a result at the Brandywell would be a huge step towards that goal. Higgins knows the challenge that awaits his team.

“Nothing will be taken for granted,” he insisted. “They are a very, very good side and they are going to get better. They have improved dramatically over the last couple of seasons, so we know it’ll be a tough game. They are two teams who don’t concede too many goals, but hopefully with our form at home in recent months, we can go and put on a good performance and get the three points.” 

Tough to break down

Last season’s FAI Cup final aside, the Candystripes have had a trying time trying to break down a stubborn Shels defence in the past two seasons, scoring just six goals in seven league games, and never more than one in a game.

“They have the least goals conceded in the league this year, and we have the second-best defensive record; I think we’ve only conceded one more than them. I don’t see it being much different from the other games. Thankfully, we’ve been scoring goals at home in recent times, and we want to continue that.

A lot of the parts of our play throughout the season have been good, and I don’t like talking about data and stats because I understand the game is about putting the ball in the back of the net. If you look at our game this year, we’ve been really strong in a lot of parts and hopefully we can put it all together on Friday, and get a big win.

Meanwhile, Higgins is excited at the prospect of the North Stand raising the potential attendance at the Brandywell to over 6,000 from next season on.

“I think the stand behind the goal; you look at Turners Cross and the Shed End, and if you look at Rovers, who score a lot of goals at that end where the crowd is,” he said.

“A lot of grounds where there are crowds behind the goals, they seem to be the scoring ends, so hopefully we can create that here.

“One thing I will say is that it has been a roller-coaster of a season; there has been a lot of good and there have been difficult periods, but what I will say is that our crowd has stuck with us, right from the start until now and we want that to continue until the end of the season. They have played a huge part in some of the big games here at the Brandywell.”