Back in form Jamie McGonigle targeting the Aviva!

FAI Cup Semi-final

Derry City vs. Treaty United

Tomorrow, 2pm

Jamie McGonigle is hoping to fire Derry City into their first FAI Cup final in eight years tomorrow, after coming through what he believes was the most difficult period of his career.

The striker is the club’s top scorer this season with 13 goals in all competitions, but went through a barren run in the summer when he scored just one goal, against non-league Oliver Bond, in 15 games.

With 118 senior goals to his credit so far, it was a drought the 26-year-old had never experienced before and he admitted it was a frustrating period.

“It is obviously difficult when you’re a striker and you’re not scoring goals, and then I wasn’t really in form and I wasn’t really playing and I was a bit stop-start, coming in and out of the team,” he recalled. “I’m just glad now to be back amongst the goals because I would say that was my longest time without a goal in my career so far to be honest.

“You just have to trust yourself and back yourself. I was still scoring in training with the usual finishing, but it just wasn’t happening on match day and the chances weren’t falling right. There are plenty of strikers in the world who go through droughts so you just have to back yourself and trust yourself that once you get one, it will just follow. I just need to make sure this time that I don’t go that long again.”

McGonigle’s goal against Shamrock Rovers not only helped his team reach this Sunday’s FAI Cup semi-final against Treaty United, it also ended the drought, and with two goals in his last three games, he feels he is getting back to his best.

“The goal against Rovers was massive and Mark Connolly keeps going on about the assist, calling himself ‘the Assist King’,” he laughed. “It was a big moment definitely, because it was in the cup and because of who it was against, but also because it was a header. I know I scored a header against Dundalk, but that was two yards out and I couldn’t have missed it. I’m not even joking, I would be lucky to have like 10 headers in my career, so it’s not often that I often score, so I was even more delighted with that.

“It was a bit crazy actually because the two weeks leading up to that game, not just for that game, but I started asking towards the end of training just to practise a few extra headers because I just had this feeling that I might get a chance where I might need to use my head, and then the next thing it just happened, so it was a bit weird to me.”

McGonigle also praised his manager Ruaidhri Higgins for his support during a family bereavement last week, the striker dedicating his goal against Finn Harps to his late grandfather.

“It was a tough week,” he acknowledged. “To be fair to Ruaidhri, he was very good to me on the Thursday when we got the news that it was going to be a matter of hours. He rang me and said ‘Listen, it’s more important for you to be with your family’. I have big respect for that – he didn’t try to make me come in for training because he understood the situation. Then, when it came to Friday, again he left the decision up to me if I wanted to come in, and if I didn’t, he would understand. I talked to my mum, it was her father who passed away, and she told me ‘naw, go to your football, you know he would have wanted you to play football’. I came on and missed the penalty and I was thinking ‘aw naw’, but thankfully another chance came and I got the goal in the end up.”

Strong favourites

Derry City are strong favourites to progress to this season’s FAI Cup final when they host First Division Treaty on Sunday, but McGonigle insists that he and his team mates know that they have everything to lose if they don’t perform in front of a sold-out Brandywell.

“It’s a massive game,” he agreed. “It’s a chance to get to play in the Aviva on Cup final day if we can get through and everything that goes with it. We’ll not be looking too far past Treaty at the minute because we have to make sure that we prepare right and do what we’ve been doing the last few weeks.

“It would be a fantastic end to the season but we just can’t look too far past this Sunday. As long as we turn up and play the way we can play, I’m fully confident that we should be able to get the job done.”