Shelbourne v Derry City: Match
Preview
Shelbourne
FC v Derry City FC, League of Ireland Premier Division, Round 1, Tolka Park,
Friday 14th February 2025 @ 7.45pm
It’s been a long few months of a winter
without the Candystripes but proper football is back and there’s a new man at
the helm in the Brandywell. Tiernan Lynch, the man who took Larne from the NIFL
Championship to back-to-back Irish League champions and UEFA Conference League
group stages, was announced as City’s new manager back in November. In his few
months here already, Lynch has made his mark on the running of the club both on
and off the pitch. He’s brought in four former Northern Ireland internationals,
a three-time Premier Division winner and secured the use of Doire GAA’s Owenbeg
Centre of Excellence as a temporary home from home for the club. His new look
Derry City side has been thrown in at the deep end though- their first game of
the season is a Valentine’s Day trip to Tolka Park, where they have a date with
champions Shelbourne.
Derry City:
The end of last season was a
struggle. Going from having multiple opportunities to go top of the table
before then finishing fourth and losing the cup final, the last few months of
the 2024 campaign were an emotional rollercoaster for the City faithful. We
could have gone clear at the top when we went into a Friday-Monday double
header at home to Bohemians and Sligo Rovers in October, but missed point blank
chances in both games and came away with two draws. Those four dropped points
saw Ruaidhrí Higgins’ grasp on the title slip drastically. An away win away to
Dundalk kept City dreams alive going into the penultimate gameweek and
relegated Dundalk, but a 1-0 loss to St. Pat’s in Inchicore meant that Derry
could mathematically no longer be champions. To add insult to injury, the
winner was scored by a man who City had sold to Pat’s less than a year prior –
Brandon Kavanagh. Derry City v Shelbourne in the Brandywell on November 1st
was billed all year as the title decider, as City hoped to grab their first
title since 1997 and Shels their first since 2006. To be fair, it was a title
decider, but not for the home side. Harry Wood’s 85th minute winner
against a dejected City side in a flat Brandywell saw the visitors clinch the
title from Shamrock Rovers and knocked Derry out of the European spots.
Nine days later and City travelled
to the Aviva for the second time in three seasons, in an FAI Cup final against a
Drogheda United side who still had a relegation play-off to get the better of,
it seemed nearly impossible for City to lose. They did. And it couldn’t have
gone much worse either. When captain
Patrick McEleney went off injured in the first half, in his last appearance for
the club, you knew it wasn’t going to be our day. Goals from Andrew Quinn and
Douglas James-Taylor handed Drogheda their second ever FAI Cup triumph as the
Derry end of the Aviva cleared out with twenty minutes to go. It was a sour
atmosphere after the second goal went in. City failed to threaten for the
remainder of the game, before Brian Maher left the pitch in tears after full
time – he looked certain to leave the club for Shamrock Rovers. After a cup
final triumph, a European run in 2023 and back-to-back second place finishes,
the Ruaidhrí Higgins era on Foyleside came to an end. It was time for a rebuild
at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium.
Enter stage left, Tiernan and
Seamus Lynch. The two brothers who had won eight trophies at Larne between 2017
and 2024, alongside qualifying for the UEFA Conference League league phase,
arrived to take the reins at Derry City on a three year deal. Aside from
playing exciting football and dominating domestically for a few years, they
turned Larne into one of the most professional clubs on the island. With a full
on academy set-up, scholarship program and state-of-the-art training
facilities, the Larne model has given a glimpse at what can be done at Derry
City. With the club looking at taking over Templemore Complex and building a
hub for the club in the next couple of years, alongside the fast-approaching
completion of the new North Stand, it’s an exciting time to be a Derry City
supporter again.
That excitement isn’t constrained
to just the background workings of the club, but Lynch’s business in the
transfer window has raised a few eyebrows. With no European football this year,
I expected a fairly modest rebuild of young players and a few experienced LOI
veterans to ease the club into a new era without the breaking the bank. I was
wrong. Tiernan Lynch has been backed by the club to make his mark on the squad.
I said back in October that getting Brian Maher and Adam O’Reilly tied down to
new deals would be more important than any other signing and, coming off the
back of the cup final, I genuinely thought both of them would be away. Low and
behold, both players were signed to new two-year deals by mid-December. They
were joined by 57 time Northern Ireland international Shane Ferguson, who was
most recently at Rotherham United in the Championship. A former Maiden City
player in his youth, the Eglinton native made 23 senior appearances for
Newcastle United after joining their academy in 2007. Loans to Birmingham City,
Rangers and Millwall saw the versatile left-sided full-back’s stock rise.
Millwall signed him permanently for around £175,000 in 2016, where he made 155
appearances in five years. At 33, he’s an experienced addition to the squad
with his versatility making him a near-perfect replacement for the departed
Ciarán Coll.
Following on from Ferguson where
two more Northern Ireland internationals, both announced one Saturday afternoon
while I was scoffing a ciabatta from Paul’s Butchers – what a day. They don’t
need much of an introduction, Liam Boyce is a 28 time NI international forward
with a deadly eye for goal and comfortable dropping into midfield to make
something happen. He has just shy of 200 goals in 470 or so senior appearances
– not a bad return at all. 23 goals of those came in 2016/17 whilst at Ross County,
seeing Boyce win the Scottish Premiership golden boot ahead of Celtic’s Moussa
Dembelé and Scott Sinclar. He most recently spent five years at Hearts of
Midlothian, where he won the Player of the Year award in 2020/21.
Boyce’s signing was quickly
followed by that of Gavin Whyte, ending a transfer saga that also involved
Shamrock Rovers, Linfield and Coleraine. Leaving Crusaders with three league
titles and 140 appearances under his belt in 2018, Whyte signed for Oxford
United for around £100,000. After a season in League One, he signed for Cardiff
City for around £2m before going on loan to Hull City and back to Oxford. Most
recently with Portsmouth, Whyte opted to return home last year before signing
for the Candystripes. A winger of international pedigree, 30 caps to be
precise, Whyte adds quality to City’s already strong flanks.
Another duo of signings came days
later for Derry City, in the form of Robbie Benson and Carl Winchester. Benson
is a league of Ireland stalwart, racking more than 450 appearances and
three
Premier Division titles. A proven
winner, the midfielder joined from relegated Dundalk in January and offers
Tiernan Lynch a bit of League of Ireland winning nouse in the centre park of
the park. Another experienced midfield addition is Carl Winchester, who was
capped once by NI back in 2011. He recently surpassed the 500 appearance mark in
senior football whilst at Shrewsbury Town and has experience playing across the
EFL. A midfielder by trade, he can also slot in at right back and looked very
tidy sitting in front of the defence against Institute in preseason. Young goalkeeper Arlo Doherty made his stay at the club official after signing an 18 month contract following the expiration of his contract with Leicester City. The former Ireland youth international has been training with the club since last summer and will serve as back-up to Brian Maher.
Dom Thomas is the signing I’m
most excited about though. A former Celtic academy prospect, Thomas broke
through at Motherwell in 2015 and has played his entire career until now in
Scotland. Most recently captain at Queens Park in the Scottish Championship,
the forward, who turns 29 on Friday, has a wand of a left foot and is
comfortable playing off either wing. Queens Park fans think very highly of him
judging by their reaction to his departure – he’s surely one to get you off
your feet.
Twelve players left Derry City
between the end of the season and now, eight of them on permanent transfers. In
November, it seemed like we were on the verge of a crisis. Captain Patrick
McEleney had left for Ballymena United, although returned to City in a coaching
capacity recently. He was followed to the Irish League by his brother, Shane,
and Ciarán Coll, who both joined Declan Devine’s Glentoran. The latter was
City’s second longest serving player having joined in 2019. Will Patching joined
League Two’s bottom side Carlisle United on a two-and-a-half year deal.
Carlisle brought in twelve new players in January, before sacking their manager
to bring in Mark Hughes on deadline day – they’re currently six points from
safety and relegation to the National League looks ever-more likely despite
splashing the cash.
Colm Whelan also joined Bohemians
to lead their line – reuniting with Alan Reynolds in a real coup for the
Phibsborough side. He does, however, now have competition up front in the form
of former Sheffield United and Bournemouth striker Lys Mousset, who cost £10m
six years ago. Dan Kelly returned to Dublin to sign for Shelbourne, whilst
Tadhg Ryan made the move to Glenavon and Callum McCay joined Institute on loan
after moving to Cliftonville. Duncan Idehen and Conor Barr joined Ballymena
United on loan, whilst Aaron Heaney and Liam Mullan made loan switches to
Glenavon and Harland & Wolff Welders respectively.
In terms of expectations for
2025, it’s hard to judge how Derry City’s campaign will pan out. There’s been
heavy investment in the squad, particularly in forward areas. With the age
profile of signings, the youngest being Thomas who turns 29 this week, it seems
like Lynch’s task this season to go all out for European football. His Larne
team were relentless in attack. Playing a 3-5-2, they were ruthless going
forward. This will suit City’s quality in forward areas and bring something
different to the possession based style played under Ruaidhrí Higgins. My only
concern is in defence. With Duncan Idehen and Conor Barr going on loan to
Ballymena United, Mark Connolly and Sam Todd (who impressed on loan under Lynch
at Larne) are the club’s only senior centre backs. Whilst Ferguson could play
on the left side of a three, I feel that we could do with at least another centre
back in the squad.
It won’t be a quick fix for City
this year and with Shelbourne, St Pat’s and Shamrock Rovers all looking to
mount title charges, a top three finish would mark a good return for Lynch in
his first season. With the new North Stand due to open in the coming weeks, and
the extra 2900 capacity that it will provide, the Brandywell now has a stand
behind the net to suck a goal into. Shelbourne away is likely the toughest
venue to go too for a season opener, especially seeing that they’re now
champions, but the Derry management team will have their players fired up to
show what they can offer. The League of Ireland madness is back.
Shelbourne:
For the first time this decade, we
have a Premier Division winner who isn’t called Shamrock Rovers. They raced to
an early lead at the start of the 2024 campaign and stayed there pretty much
ever since. Losing just three league games between the season beginning and the
European games rolling round in July, Shelbourne seemed to be running out of
steam from August on. With just one win in eight league games going into
mid-October, it seemed like the league title was Derry City’s to lose. That
ended well. One win from their last eight league games saw the Candystripes go
from favourites to stumbling over the line in fourth place. Shamrock Rovers had
one hand on their fifth title in a row going into the last day of the season,
knowing that victory over Waterford would win them the league if Derry got the
better of Shelbourne. With just five minutes to go in the Brandywell, Harry
Wood slotted past Brian Maher to award Shels their first title in eighteen
years. Heartbreak for Rovers who got too used to winning, heartbreak for Derry
City who threw away the league title before watching it being lifted in their
own back yard.
With Champions League football booked
for the summer and a league title secured, the big question for Shelbourne over
the break was ‘how do you improve a premiership winning side?’. It’s hard to
tell how that’ll pan out when the season’s yet to begin, but Duff’s side have
quietly had a strong transfer window. It seems as though the starting eleven
will remain largely the same. Former Derry forward Matt Smith is probably the
biggest departure, leaving to join Waterford. Squad players Shane Griffin and
Dean Williams departed for Cobh Ramblers and Athlone Town respectively, joined
in the First Division by young players Gavin Hodgins (Finn Harps), Cian Doyle,
Harvey Warren (both Bray Wanderers) and Daithi Folan (Dundalk). Liam Burt’s
returned to Shamrock Rovers following his loan whilst Aiden O’Brien has left
for Woking. With sides in Scotland circling round top scorer Sean Boyd, the
fact that his name is under the retention list rather than the departed, will
come as a coup in its own.
Speaking of coups, and no Damien
Duff hasn’t tried to overthrow the Dáil just yet, Shelbourne’s business has
been smart. Ryan O’Kane, a 21 year old winger who made more than 100 senior
appearances for Dundalk, joined following their relegation. He may only have
contributed to five league goals last season, but he’s a lightning quick winger
and will offer depth in wide areas. He was followed to Tolka Park by striker Mipo
Odubeko from Fleetwood Town. A Dublin native, Odubeko spent time at the
academies of Manchester United, Manchester City and West Ham United. At 22
years of age, Shels have got themselves a quality young striker to partner Sean
Boyd up top. Both he and Boyd scored in last week’s 2-0 President’s Cup win
over Drogheda United as Shels cruised to victory over the FAI Cup winners. The
signing of Ellis Chapman from Sligo Rovers is the new signing for Shelbourne
that, as an opposition supporter, concerns me. Formerly a holding midfielder,
the Englishman was pushed forward under John Russell at Sligo and racked up
nine goals last season from the centre of the park. A surprisingly agile and
tricky footballer for a man of his stature, Chapman slalomed through the Derry
City backline to notch an 89th minute winner for his side in July
last year. He’s a player who’ll add that extra touch of attacking quality to
Shelbourne’s midfield.
Another man who Damien Duff hopes
will add quality to his midfield is Kerr McInroy, a former Scotland youth
international who Duff worked with at Celtic. The 24 year old Dunfermline
native can play across the midfield and has spent time at Dunfermline Athletic,
Ayr United, Airdrieonians, Kilmarnock and most recently Partick Thistle. He has
been joined at Shels by former Derry City forward Dan Kelly who, despite
featuring for City mostly from the bench last year, saw his season cut short by
injury before mutually terminating his contract a year before its expiry. The
28 year old scored just once for City, but his experience in the title winning
Dundalk side of 2019 will be vital to Duff in his hunt for back-to-back glory.
New signings aside, it’s the
usual suspects who you’ll have to watch out for on Friday night. Conor Kearns
has been one of the most consistent keepers in the league, whilst centre back
Paddy Barrett and captain Mark Coyle were included in last year’s PFAI Team of
the Year. Sean Gannon and Tyreke Wilson give width to the defence and love to bomb
foward, whilst Ellis Chapman’s arrival gives an already quality midfield of
Mark Coyle, Evan Caffrey and Harry Wood an extra bit of dynamism. Ali Coote,
Ryan O’Kane, Rayhaan Tulloch and Dan Kelly provide options out wide, whilst the
ever-dangerous Sean Boyd netted ten goals in the league last year.
Round-up:
With a semi-competitive game
under their belt coming in the form of last week’s President’s Cup victory,
Shelbourne look to be fully firing going into the new season. They dominated a Drogheda
United side who looked like they were still in pre-season mode last Friday,
racing to a 2-0 lead by half-time and holding onto the victory after Drogs
keeper Luke Dennison saw red. Boyd and Odubeko are forming a throwback strike
partnership. Boyd’s aerial capability and strength compliment the more
versatile nature of Odubeko, it’s a duo who Damien Duff reckons will be the
best in Ireland. They’ll cause City’s central defence issues on Friday night,
but with the Candystripes hoping to make use of the classic ‘new manager
bounce’ they’ll surely let off the reigns and go all-out attack on their
opponent.
Derry have had an unbeaten
preseason, with victories over Cobh Ramblers (1-0), Sligo Rovers (3-2),
Institute (5-0), Ballymena United (1-0) and Glenavon (2-0). Aside from a
cancelled fixture against Finn Harps, Lynch’s side have a strong preseason
against a mixture of opposition. Sean Patton impressed with a hat-trick against
Sligo, as well as winners against both Institute and Cobh. Dominic Thomas found
goals against Stute and Glenavon, whilst Mickey Duffy netted a brace against
Institute and the only goal at home to Ballymena. It’s been good preparation
for the Candystripes, who’ll look to bring the confidence and goals into the
season proper.
Shelbourne haven’t had a bad
off-season either. They swept aside Drogheda United in last week’s curtain
raiser, whilst beating Longford Town and Wexford. Draws against Athlone Town,
Bray Wanderers and St Mochta’s came alongside a 3-0 loss to Drogheda in the
Leinster Senior Cup – although that was mostly reserve players. They looked
sharp last Friday, with a sure defence, dynamic midfield and a new-found strike
partnership. Duff’s side will be gunning for back-to-back titles and they fact
they claimed last year’s crown by beating Derry City in the Brandywell will add
that extra kick to the game. That win for Shels was the first league game
between the two that hadn’t ended in a draw since March 2023, when Ryan Graydon
found the winner for City in Tolka Park. There have been six draws and three
red cards in the seven since. Derry did get one over Shelbourne in 2024,
dumping them out of the FAI Cup in the quarter-finals with a 2-0 win back in
September. It’s only game one of thirty-six on Friday, but it already feels
like we could be looking back on it come November. Ladies and gentlemen, the
League of Ireland and the mighty Derry City are back.
Pól O’Hare – 12th
February 2025
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