Ruaidhri Higgins: 'Televised cup tie a reminder of the quality of the League of Ireland'

Ruaidhri Higgins believes that Derry City’s dominant performance against Shelbourne was a timely reminder of the potential in Irish football amidst a difficult few weeks for the League of Ireland.

Saturday night’s powerhouse display in a game between the top two teams in the league came amidst growing and grave concerns about the future of former champions Dundalk.

While the Candystripes were securing their place in the semi-finals of this season’s FAI Cup, the FAI’s AGM was taking place in Dublin, where Player’s Union Chief Stephen McGuinness claimed that the Lilywhites could go out of business ‘within the next couple of weeks’.

While Derry City fans are dreaming of a double of league and cup and Shelbourne fans are hoping their side can hold on to their lead at the top in the final seven league games, it is a grim situation at Oriel Park, where the team that reached the Europa League Group stages twice in the last eight years re on the verge of extinction.

“The issue that we see right now at Dundalk is that I personally think this club, within the next couple of weeks could go out of business,” McGuinness claimed. “And it’s a serious, serious problem. I look around and some people seem to think it’s going to be saved, but I don’t see that.”

“It is 12 years since we’ve had a club go out of business, it’s seven years since we had a pay issue, which was Bray Wanderers, so we have had a really good time in the League of Ireland.

“At this moment in time there are no wages there for the players next week…The players at this club, on average, earn the national living wage, there is nobody here on a hundred-thousand-euro contracts. I think it is incumbent on the current board to have an independent inquiry into how the club has gotten into this trouble, and to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.”

While the AGM was taking place, National broadcaster RTE was televising the FAI Cup Quarterfinal from the Brandywell, and football fans across the country witnessed a packed house and an exciting cup tie between the two current best teams in the country.

“You're in the quarter-final of the Cup at home in the Brandywell Stadium on a Saturday evening,” Higgins reflected afterwards. “Big crowd, vocal home support, good travelling support. These occasions show the real potential of the league if there was a bit of investment in the league. I think it could be a really outstanding league and a brilliant product. I just wish more people got behind it from higher levels than us.”

“I'm delighted it was on TV. We produced that sort of display and we showed a real composure. It was a convincing win.”

“It was a really, really accomplished performance. I felt we owned the game for the majority of it. We created all the opportunities in the game. We looked a real attacking threat, but also at the same time being defensively sound and when you get them two parts of the game right, particularly us, we don't lose many games, that's for sure.”

Dublin trip

Derry City now have to travel to face Bohemians in the semi-finals, the first time they will play an FAI Cup tie at Dalymount Park since 2016, when Harry Monaghan and Nathan Boyle scored the goals in a 2-0 win.

“Well, I think we got the only all-Premier Division tie against St. Pat’s here in the first round, then away to Cork, second round home to Shelbourne, quarter-final, now away to Bohs, so if we manage to get ourselves into the final, we'll have done it the extremely hard way,” Higgins continued.

“The games against everybody have been tight by and large. That's just the nature of the league. They've really invested in their squad over the summer, bringing in the likes of Ross Tierney and Dawson Devoy, who everybody would have taken. They're setting their stall out for what's coming down the track with them as well. They're going to be a really, really good team. We've seen their performances against Shelburne last week and Shamrock Rovers the week before. They're a real dangerous team and we'll have to be right at it if they win down there.”

Derry City now turn their attentions back to the league with the visit of Shamrock Rovers this week, and Higgins insists his players don’t need extra motivation for the big games to come.

“We score the most goals in the league and we've probably created more chances than anybody in the league,” he said. “People can have their shots and their cheap shots. We'll keep going, we'll keep persevering, we'll keep using it as fuel to motivate us. Thankfully, there were a few negative enough comments this week which gave us a bit of motivation to get on the game, not that we needed it.”