Paddy McLaughlin makes Brandywell return tonight

Derry City vs. St. Patrick's Athletic

Tonight, 7:45pm

Paddy McLaughlin returns to the Brandywell in a Derry City capacity this weekend for the first time in 18 years, with the Candystripes facing a mega double-bill at home.

The former City defender made 214 appearances for the club, playing between 1997-2005, during which time he won the FAI Cup under Kevin Mahon in 2002. Now, almost two decades later, McLaughlin returns as assistant manager to Ruaidhri Higgins and is sure to receive a notable welcome from the fans, who are more than ready for the weekend double bill against St. Patrick’s Athletic and Shamrock Rovers.

“It has probably been 18 or 19 years, a long time since I last was there as a player so it’s good to be back. I’ve been trying to go in undercover so nobody would notice,” he laughed.

“It’s good to be back involved with the club and I’m looking forward to it, but the focus will be on the team and rightly so and trying to get a result against a really good St. Pat’s side. They are in good form at the minute. They have four wins in their last five games and I’m sure they will be coming here in confident mood so it’s up to us to go and get a result.”  

McLaughlin, who spent four and a half years at Cliftonville as manager, will have to adapt to a brand-new role, and he admits he is not going to rush into it.

“I’ll be taking a back seat first of all,” he explained. “Conor Loughrey has been in there with the payers and he has been brilliant, so I’m just trying to follow their lead from what they have been doing up until now.

“I’m just feeling my way in and getting to know the players and getting to know their personalities, and their strengths and weaknesses, and then working with them to try and bring out the best of them. Hopefully myself and Ruaidhri can guide the team through the next couple of weeks especially, but it’s going to be difficult because we are playing against some really good sides in the next couple of games.”

Derry City have taken just 5 points from a possible 15 at the Brandywell this season so far, but McLaughlin, who knows all about the artificial surface having dealt with it as Institute manager, says there are more important factors.

“I think there’s been a lot made about the pitch, and maybe more than it merits,” he said. “Our best performances and best results probably have been on grass surfaces, but we’ll judge that at the end of the season. It’s important that we get back to winning ways, and it’s important that we get back to good performances of high intensity and good quality which is what Ruaidhri has built over the last couple of years.

“We’re home, we’ll have a big backing and hopefully they will be vocal. They are renowned for their noise at the Brandywell and making it an intimidating atmosphere and it’s important that they continue to play their part and I’m sure they will. It’s up to the players on the pitch, no matter what the surface is, to go and perform and get a result so that’s our full focus.”

‘Careful’

Derry City supporters have been boosted by the return of both Michael Duffy and Colm Whelan from injury in recent games, but McLaughlin has cautioned that players returning from long-term problems have to be given time and patience to ensure a full recovery.

“There are players who are coming back from serious enough injuries, so we have to be careful and judge the timing of when people come back into the starting eleven,” he added.

“All the players have been training well and there are players a week closer to their return. We should be getting the full squad back shortly, in the next week or two and whenever we have our full squad of players it’s an unbelievable panel. It’s important to be careful and make sure that the timing is right for the players coming back in there.”