Derry City v Dundalk: Match Preview
Derry
City FC v. Dundalk FC, League of Ireland Premier Division, Round 9, Ryan
McBride Brandywell Stadium, 5th April 2024, kick-off 7.45pm
Both Derry City and Dundalk go into Friday’s fixture looking
to end poor runs of form. After winning three of their opening five games, City
find themselves 8 point adrift of top spot after picking up just one point from
their last three matches. Dundalk sit rock bottom of the table, without a win
and with a goal difference of -9. Both teams, and both managers, will be desperate
to get three more points on the board as pressure already begins to mount this
early in the campaign.
Derry’s loss against Galway United on Friday marked a low-point
in the Ruaidhrí Higgins era. As unbeaten Shelbourne extended their lead at the
top with a win against Dundalk, City were outfought by a newly promoted Galway side, who scored late on to claim their first Brandywell win since May 2015. It
wasn’t a pretty performance and was compounded by a few big misses, meaning Derry
faced the tall task of travelling to Shelbourne on Easter Monday.
That first half against Shelbourne was certainly an
improvement. Higgins wanted a reaction from his players and seemed to get it. Will
Patching and Pat Hoban both came close as Derry kept the pressure on Conor Kearns’
goal. It seemed like Shels were glad to get into half-time with the game
scoreless, especially considering Damien Duff’s squad was supposedly floored by illness over
the Easter weekend. Patching came close with a free kick early in the second
half but City failed to fashion anything more than half chances before the
full-time whistle came. A draw against a team in the form of Shels is certainly
not a bad result, but a win could’ve done massive favours in Derry’s title hopes.
City now sit fourth in the table, level on points with Sligo
Rovers in second - but that eight point gap to top seems to look even bigger
with every glance. Shamrock Rovers have leapfrogged the Candystripes to go into
third place, and also have a game-in-hand on their fellow challengers.
Bohemians seem to be having something of a revival under Alan Reynolds and have
won two of their three games since Declan Devine left. They’re currently sixth,
two points behind Derry but also holding on to the luxury of a game in hand.
Dundalk haven’t won a league match this season and faced quite the rebuild coming into the new campaign. All-time leading scorer Pat Hoban
joined Derry, alongside winger Dan Kelly. Greg Sloggett signed for Cheltenham
Town, Nathan Shepperd left for Wycombe Wanderers and midfield duo Keith Ward
and John Martin left for Shelbourne. Waterford snapped up Darragh Leahy and
Robbie McCourt whilst Torino swooped for teenager Senan Mullen. Holding on to
Archie Davies, who was courted by Shamrock Rovers in the off-season, and 20
year old winger Ryan O’Kane can be considered transfer market wins for the
Lilywhites.
Dundalk brought in eleven new players ahead of 2024. Dara
Keane impressed at UCD last year and was signed to bolster defensive options,
as was Jamie Walker and Zak Johnson – brought in from Kelty Hearts and
Sunderland respectively. Dutch midfielder
Koen Oostenbrink was signed from FC Eindhoven alongside Zak Bradshaw and Scott
High, who were picked up on loans from Lincoln City and Huddersfield Town. Three
strikers were brought in to try and replace the goals of Hoban; Robert Mahon
from Motherwell, Ciaran McGuckin on loan from Rotherham United and Jamie Gullan
from Raith Rovers. The latter is known for possessing a wicked free kick and
gave the League of Ireland a taste of that when he fired one past Leon Pohls in
Tallaght on the opening day.
The Lilywhites have only scored twice in the league this
season, conceding eleven in their opening seven games. The only points they’ve
picked up have been a 1-1 draw and two 0-0s and in March, they were dumped out of
the Leinster Senior Cup by St. Mochta’s. Safe to say, Stephen O’Donnell is
under pressure in the Oriel Park dugout. He needs wins to keep his job as much
as Dundalk need them to get points on the board, so they’ll certainly come out
fighting. They haven’t beaten Derry since the last day of the 2022 campaign - a
1-0 win in the Brandywell. Derry put eight goals past Dundalk in 2023 too,
conceding three across the four games played by the two.
Both teams need points, Dundalk for survival and Derry to
maintain any hopes of a title push. With a double header against Shamrock Rovers
and St. Patrick’s Athletic coming up in two weeks time, and Drogheda United
away next week, these are the games that City really ought to be winning. Neither manager will be entirely comfortable at the minute, so expect an entertaining game as the two teams go attacking to get their season’s
back on track.
Pól O’Hare – 3 April 2024
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