Match Preview: Derry City v Waterford

 

Match Preview: Derry City v Waterford

 

Derry City FC v. Waterford FC, League of Ireland Premier Division, Round 5, Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium, Friday 8^th March 2024, kick-off 7.45pm

 

Derry City’s unbeaten start to the season has continued after a tough weekend double-header, where they defeated St. Patrick’s Athletic on Friday and won a point away to Shamrock Rovers on Monday. The Candystripes now gear up to face Waterford on Friday, a team they haven’t come up against since November 2021. The visitors haven’t taken long to get into the swing of Premier Division action after a two season absence, picking up seven points from their first four games and coming off the back of a 3-1 home win over St. Pat’s.

 

Good teams scrape wins when they aren’t playing well and that was certainly the case for Derry City against St. Pat’s on Friday. The away team came to the Brandywell with a new look squad and investment across the pitch, setting up with a tough-to-break-down back five. City couldn’t get the ball to stick and it was the end of the first half before they got any sort of momentum. Ruairi Keating firing past Brian Maher just two minutes into the second half didn’t help things either. The introductions of Scottish duo Paul McMullan and Danny Mullen changed the game though. After a Pat Hoban header got Derry level on the 65^th, Mullen stylishly stabbed the ball into the top corner from a Michael Duffy cross on the 92^nd minute – clinching a huge three points for the Candystripes.

 

Hoban and Mullen got in on the act again in Tallaght on Monday night. After Darragh Burns slid the ball under Brian Maher to put Shamrock Rovers ahead, Pat Hoban converted a Derry spot-kick to level the game. Mullen, once again introduced from the bench, bundled in a Paul McMullan corner to give City a 2-1 away lead. A 92^nd minute header from Estonian international Markus Poom shared the spoils, but a point away against the four-in-a-row champions in dreadful conditions certainly isn’t a negative result.

 

Ruaidhrí Higgins’ injury woes have, however, only increased after the weekend. Will Patching, who assisted Hoban’s goal on Friday, pulled up in the warmup in Tallaght and subsequently had to watch the game from the stands. It’s unknown how serious the former Manchester City midfielder’s injury is but the City faithful will be hoping it’s not long-term by any means. This leaves Jordan McEneff and Adam O’Reilly, who both played well over the weekend, as City’ s only two fit senior midfielders. Sadou Diallo still faces some weeks on the side-lines and Cameron Dummigan’s injury severity hasn’t yet been revealed. On a more positive note, Patrick McEleney’s injury wasn’t as bad as first feared and Ciaron Harkin played his first football in two years when he lined out for the U20s last weekend.

 

Waterford were something of an unknown quantity coming into the Premier Division this season. In 2021, their Last season in the top flight, the Blues lost out to UCD in the promotion/relegation a play-off. Another painful defeat against UCD in the 2022 play-offs, in which Waterford missed a 93^rd minute penalty in Inchicore, saw the Students stay in the Premier Division for 2023. In all honesty though, it really should have been Waterford in the top flight that year – UCD finished the season with just 11 points and a goal difference of -77. Waterford and Galway United definitely had the quality to complete with the big boys last year too, finishing the First Division ten and thirty-five points ahead of third placed Cobh Ramblers. Galway’s season was an anomaly, as they breezed the league, losing just twice all year and winning thirty of their thirty-six games. Any other year and Waterford would have been automatically promoted, scoring 84 goals on their way to clinching second place. They triumphed over Munster rivals Cork City in the play-off, beating the Rebels 2-1 in Tallaght to go back up to the Premier Division.

 

The issue with having a fantastic season in the First Division, and having a ‘sister’ club in the English Football League, is that your best talent will inevitably be poached. If you look at Waterford’s stand out player in each of the last couple of years you will notice that they have been snapped up by Fleetwood Town, the team whom they share owners with. Phoenix Patterson, Junior Quitirina and more recently Ronan Coughlan all joined the League One side, staving off competition from Derry City, Shamrock Rovers and sides across the Irish Sea. It’s hard to know what sort of fees Waterford demanded, seeing that they share the same owner and have benefited massively from loan signings of players on Fleetwood’s books. The English club have clearly seen the value in the underappreciated and undervalued Irish market in recent times, Fleetwood signed our own Ryan Graydon for around £125,000 last summer. Promising (pardon the pun) Bohemians winger Promise Omochere was snapped up for an undisclosed fee, as was Cork City keeper David Harrington. At least these players are being given a platform to showcase their talents in England though.

 

Back to Waterford though, Blues manager Keith Long was faced with the task of replacing Ronan Coughlan. The striker, who has been linked with Derry in the past, never really lit up the League of Ireland during spells with Bray Wanderers and Cork City, although he did find goalscoring form at Sligo Rovers before joining St. Pat’s. A move to Waterford preceded the 2023 season and Coughlan really turned on his form. 37 goals in 35 games in all competitions saw him sign for Fleetwood Town, unsurprisingly. Roland Idowu, who bagged fourteen goals across two years at Waterford, left for Shrewsbury Town too. Killian Cantwell and Shane Griffin left for Bray Wanderers whilst Thomas Oluwa, Liam Kervick and Harry Nevin moved to Wexford, Cobh Ramblers and Cork City respectively.

 

Losing your main goal threat after winning promotion is never ideal, but the signing of Pádraig Amond, who comes with a wealth of experience playing in England, is seeming to have been the perfect option. Starting out with Shamrock Rovers, before playing for Sligo Rovers and in Portugal with Pacos de Ferreira, Amond has a history of scoring wherever he’s gone in the English football pyramid. Known for bagging FA Cup goals against Tottenham Hotspur, Leicester City and Manchester City, the 35 year old is currently pipping Pat Hoban to the Premier Division top scorer position with four goals in four games so far at Waterford. He’ll certainly be a threat on Friday night.

 

The signings of Robbie McCourt, Darragh Leahy and Ben McCormack bring tested Premier Division experience - Leahy has already chipped in with two goals from left-back. Centre back Kacper Radkowski, who played for Bohemians last year, was signed permanently from Slask Wroclaw. Kacper Skwiercynzski joined on loan from Ruch Chorzow as did Maleace Asamoah, Harvey MacAdam and Barry Baggley - all from Fleetwood Town. The latter has recently been nominated for the Player of the Month Award for February alongside Derry’s Mark Connolly. The signing of Grant Horton from Cheltenham Town also proves that Waterford are willing to splash their cash on proven Premier Division talent in a bid to consolidate their top flight status come November.

 

Defensive midfielder Rowan McDonald spent time on trial at Derry City before joining Waterford last year. Conor Parsons is one to watch too having scored a brilliant goal in the play-off final and contributed to more throughout the First Division campaign. Ireland U19 international Romeo Akachukwu, the 17 year old midfielder who netted a hat-trick against Athlone Town last year, will sign for Southampton when the July window opens. Waterford will be substantially rewarded for his promise too, with the fee believed to start at €375,000 rising to €0.5m with add-ons.

 

Waterford are the Premier Division’s current top goal-scorers with nine in four games this term. Amond has four and Leahy as two, as I’ve mentioned, but loanee Maleace Asamoah has also found the net on two occasions whilst Niall O’Keefe netted in Waterford’s 4-1 away win over Drogheda United in matchday two. There have been two or more goals in thirteen of the last fifteen league meetings between Derry and Waterford, going back to February 2018, meaning that there is a history of fireworks in this tie. The Candystripes have also won seven of the last nine encounters between these two in the Brandywell in all competitions. Derry’s 4-2 win against Waterford in the League Cup semi-final in 2019, in which David Parkhouse scored all four, is another which sticks out in the memory. 
The goalscoring form of both club’s forward players hints at yet another plentiful encounter in terms of the goal tally. Both teams are in form and will want to keep momentum going, so this one could be an interesting one to keep an eye on. Expect good strikers and, hopefully, something of an end-to-end game.

Pól O'Hare - 6th March 2024