Derry City: Overcoming the so-called 'lesser teams'

There is no doubt about it, Derry City’s record against teams in the lower reaches of the table cost them badly in 2023.

No Derry City fan will forget their team heading to the Sligo Showgrounds at the end of last May, knowing a win would see the Candystripes go four points clear at the top of the table, only for the home side to dig out a 1-0 win. A massive opportunity to take advantage of a rare slip from Shamrock Rovers had been missed, and the season turned with that.

City won just one of the next six league games after that disaster at Sligo and they never recovered in the race to catch Rovers again.

To add insult to injury, Derry headed back to Sligo in September, hoping to keep pressure on Rovers in the final few weeks of the season.

Lightning struck twice however as not only did they fail to perform again, they slipped to another 1-0 loss, against a team that was struggling for form and points at that stage of the season.

In fact, you could argue that Derry City are the main reason that Sligo Rovers remained in the Premier Division last year, as they finished just six points above the relegation play-off place.

Overall, John Russell’s side took seven points from Derry City, before finishing in eighth place overall.

In contrast, Sligo took one point from four games against the champions.

But it wasn’t just Sligo who proved problematic for Derry City.

Tonight’s opponents Drogheda United also seem to frustrate, with City dropping five points against Kevin Doherty’s side in 2023. Bohemians also caused significant damage, with City managing just five points against Declan Devine’s team.

The difference between Derry City and Shamrock Rovers come the end of the season was just seven points.

Sligo Rovers, Drogheda United and Bohemians all finished in the bottom half of the table, meaning from a possible 36 points available from those three clubs, Derry City took just 16, missing out on a season-changing 20 points.

Pat Hoban, who knows what it takes to win a league title, admits that from the outside looking in last year, it was clear that Derry City had a problem.

“A million percent and I would say that’s why Derry haven’t won the league in the last year or two,” he insisted.

“The so-called lesser clubs, if you’re 1% off coming into a game you’re going to end up drawing a game or losing a game of football and that’s the way it is.

“To win this league, there are a lot of aspects you have to be really good at, like fighting.

“People might think that should be a given, but you have to have the will to fight, the will to have sacrifices in your game as well to make sure you’re taking that onto the pitch as well.

“It’s not just pretty football that wins you the league, you have to have the other side of the game too.”