Derry City FC v Shelbourne FC, League of Ireland Premier Division, Round 13, Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium, Friday 2nd May 2025 kick-off 7.45pm
Derry City FC v St Patrick’s Athletic FC, League of
Ireland Premier Division, Round 14, Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium, Monday 5th
May 2025 kick-off 7.45pm
Just when it seemed that Derry City were beginning to click
under Tiernan Lynch, the Candystripes fell to a 2-1 victory away to relegation
threatened Waterford on Friday night. With the optimism surrounding the
previous two wins quickly evaporating, City will need two huge performances
against Shelbourne and St. Pat’s across the Bank Holiday weekend to get the
season back on track. All isn’t lost just yet though, as Derry still sit just
three points off top spot despite their league position.
Derry City:
Coming off the back of two performances in which Derry City
defeated both Galway United and Sligo Rovers, the City faithful were quietly
confident in getting a result against Waterford on Friday night. Waterford had
lost all seven of their previous ties, seeing manager Keith Long replaced. In
typical Derry City fashion, Waterford picked up their first win since early
March by beating the travelling Candystripes 2-1 on a wet day in Ireland’s most
southern province.
The opening exchanges of the game were fairly flat, as both
sides had opportunities but failed to convert in the first twenty minutes.
Gavin Whyte shot straight at McMullan in the Waterford goal from inside the box,
whilst Kevin Holt cleared a Ryan Burke header off the line. The opening goal
came in the 40th minute, when City failed to clear a looping corner
and found themselves at sixes and sevens. With Brian Maher out of his goal, and
the City players on the back-post failing to put a head on the ball, Darragh
Leahy bundled it in for his first goal of the season to send the home side into
the break with the advantage.
Despite bringing on Liam Boyce, Adam O’Reilly, Ciaron Harkin
and Shane Ferguson early in the second half, Waterford doubled their advantage
on the 65th minute. Conan Noonan’s free kick from the centre of the
park dropped for Tommy Lonergan in the box. The former St. Pat’s striker
touched the ball on for veteran Pádraig Amond, who’s deflected shot nestled in
the bottom corner. City undone from a set piece yet again.
City found their best chances later in the second half
through substitute Sean Patton, who tested Stephen McMullan twice. A
consolation goal finally came for the travelling side, when Liam Boyce nodded
over the Waterford keeper and into the net despite being flattened by
McMullan’s right arm. Waterford could’ve had three right at the end when Tommy
Lonergan shot wide from inside the box, whilst Ciaron Harkin’s hooked ball over
the bar with the second last touch of the game saw Derry fail to claim a point.
For Waterford, two of their four wins in 2025 have come against Derry City. For
City, they failed to capitalise on a night when other results went in their
favour.
Tiernan Lynch named an unchanged lineup for the third game
in a row, keeping the same starting eleven who beat Galway United and Sligo
Rovers in the previous two. The saying goes, ‘If it’s not broken, don’t fix
it’, but City looked leggy late in the first half and failed to press with the
intensity they had done in matches prior. It’s easy saying this in hindsight,
but with three games in a week including four hour trips to Galway and six hour
trips to Waterford, it seems like fresh legs were the missing ingredient for
City on Friday night. The energetic Adam O’Reilly struggled to impact the game
when introduced at half-time, whilst Ronan Boyce, another key performer this
season, was taken off just after the hour mark. City do have good squad depth,
and on another day, the Candystripes may have found more joy with the likes of
O’Reilly, Paul McMullan and Sean Patton in from the start.
Dom Thomas and Gavin Whyte, who were instrumental to the
previous two victories, struggled to get involved in the game. Thomas was
subbed at half-time and Whyte’s best opportunity was fired straight at the
Waterford keeper. Matt Lawlor in the Waterford dugout had his side set up well,
extinguishing all that City threw at them and refusing to allow the away side
to have time on the ball or counter. The new (interim) manager bounce coming
back to hurt City, as it did when Alan Reynolds beat Derry City in his first
game as Bohemians manager last year.
The Waterford game, similarly to the Drogheda United defeat,
is one to take on the chin and adapt from. It seemed like Waterford just wanted
it more and worked harder for it, which is something that the City faithful won’t
take too kindly to. There’ll certainly be a change to the starting eleven as
City will relish the week break between the Waterford and Shelbourne matches.
Sean Patton’s deserving of a start and compliments Liam Boyce or Danny Mullen
well. His strength and turn of pace see him profit from flick-ons, also
allowing him to run in behind the defence. The added factor of the 18 year old
could trouble Shelbourne’s defence, who’ll be expecting a physical battle. Paul
McMullan has only made three starts this year and could be in line for an
inclusion to inject pace down the flank, although Dom Thomas has impressed
recently. Michael Duffy hasn’t scored for four games now, his longest barren
run this season, and will be itching to back on the scoresheet, whilst Maher,
Connolly and co. will be desperate for the satisfaction of keeping dangerous
Shels and Pats forwards out at the other end. Control in the midfield and
defensive solidity against two of the best teams in Ireland will be the aim of
the game across the Bank Holiday weekend.
Despite another four yellow cards adding to City’s already
poor disciplinary record, there are no more suspensions to worry about it for
Friday at least. Ben Doherty, Sadou Diallo, Pat Hoban and Cameron Dummigan are
all still out through injury. Winless against both Shelbourne and Pats this
season, Tiernan Lynch will hope to see his Derry City side right the wrongs of
the defeat in Waterford. Despite sitting seventh and with a negative goal
difference, City still sit just three points of the top. Let off the hook, City
could propel themselves back into the European conversation with two big
results. Six points would be immense, four would be good going and, dare I say
it, two draws wouldn’t be the end of the world. Three points separating first
from seventh in a ten team league is mental right enough.
Shelbourne:
For the first time since bagging an 85th minute
winner to win their first league title in nineteen years in the Brandywell last
November, Shelbourne return to face a rejuvenated Derry City side. Claiming a
comfortable victory in this fixture on the opening day of the season,
Shelbourne have had a solid start to their title defence. With just one loss
from the opening twelve fixtures, Damien Duff’s side find themselves sitting one
point off top and are out to show that 2024’s title winning campaign wasn’t a
fluke.
Since returning to the Premier Division in 2022, Shelbourne
developed a reputation of being watertight at the back and found an ability to
grind out points. In 2023, they had the second best defence in the league and
last year went one step further, topping the table by conceding just 27 goals
in 36 games, despite scoring only 40. Building on the confidence gained last
season, Duff is rebranding his side to focus on a possession-based approach and
killing teams with passes. Despite the domination in recent matches, the Reds
have just won twice in their last ten games, drawing seven and losing once
since opening the campaign with back-to-back wins. In fact, Shelbourne have
drawn 2-2 in each of their last three games, showing they have no problem in
scoring but can be undone at the back. This has borne frustration for the Tolka
faithful, who watched their side keep 76% and 79% possession in two recent
draws with Galway United and Drogheda United – it seems that teams are doing to
them what they were once masters at.
Damien Duff didn’t add many new faces to his side before the
start of the season, but the new arrivals have hit the ground running. Scottish
midfielder Kerr McInroy was brought in after most recently lining out for
Kilmarnock and instantly became a fan favourite, earning himself a new contract
to keep him at Tolka Park past the 2025 season and ward off interest. Ellis
Chapman, signed from Sligo Rovers, recently bagged his first goal for
Shelbourne, whilst striker Mipo Odubeko has scored four in twelve appearances.
He could be the complimentary marksman to Sean Boyd that Duff’s side were
calling out for. Dan Kelly, signed from Derry City, has yet to play for the
Reds after struggling with a knee injury at the back end of last season.
Another new winger, Ryan O’Kane, has been limited to just three appearances
this term.
Midfielder Evan Caffrey has been Shelbourne’s unsung hero in
2025, bagging three goals and making two assists in eleven appearances. He’s a
tireless worker in the midfield, adding dynamism to McInroy and Mark Coyle in
the centre of the park. Both strikers Sean Boyd and Mipo Odubeko have helped
their side by contributing to four goals each this term. Standout defender
Paddy Barrett hasn’t played since mid-March, but Sam Bone, Kameron Ledwidge and
Liverpool loanee James Norris are key to the league’s third best defence this
term. Midfielder Harry Wood equals City’s Michael Duffy with 1.4 successful
dribbles per game, another league high. Conor Kearns’ three clean sheets
between the sticks are less than only Brian Maher, Luke Dennison and Joseph
Anang this term. It’s clear, therefore, that Shelbourne have quality throughout
the team and will be hoping for three points on Foyleside for just the second
time since in three years.
St Patrick’s Athletic:
If it was a relaxing bank holiday weekend that Derry City
were looking for, they’ll be disappointed. The weekend doesn’t get any easier
for the Candystripes as they welcome title hopefuls St. Pat’s to the Brandywell
on Monday night. Despite a poor first half to the season last year, Pat’s ended
2024 by reaching the UEFA Conference League play-off spot and consolidating a
top three league finish by winning all nine of their final games. Included in
those nine was a 1-0 win over Derry City, when Brandon Kavanagh’s goal against
his former side denied the Candystripes the chance to win the title. Pat’s have
carried that form into 2025 too, for the most part, losing just three of their
opening twelve league games.
The Saints have kept clean sheets in six of those twelve
games, but are winless in the last three. Coming off the back of a
heartbreaking 2-1 loss to Dublin rivals Bohemians, conceding in the 90th
and 97th minute, Kenny’s side will be looking for an immediate
response as they face table-toppers Galway United on Friday before travelling
to Derry on Monday. After twelve games, Stephen Kenny’s side find themselves third
in the Premier Division table – scoring the second most goals in the division
and conceding the second least. Key, therefore, to St. Pat’s this season has
been their defence. Captain Joe Redmond has been a standout at the back, as has
Tom Grivosti. Goalkeeper Joseph Anang has probably been the best goalkeeper in
Ireland in 2025, with a league high six clean sheets. Those six have been
matched only by Drogheda’s Luke Dennison and are two more than the next
highest, Derry City’s Brian Maher. Being watertight at the back has been the
aim of the game this year.
With a core defensive unit, and attacking wingbacks in
Al-Amin Kazeem and Axel Sjoberg, Pat’s have quality in the midfield which can
go toe-to-toe with any midfield in the league. Club legend Chris Forrester is
one of the most gifted players in the League of Ireland and is still going
strong at 32 – he has registered five goal involvements this season. Versatile
attacking midfielder Brandon Kavanagh is a player I’d have loved to see stay at
the Brandywell. For a €25k fee, he switched Foyleside for Inchicore prior to
the 2024 season and became the Premier Division’s most creative player last
season. He assisted twelve for his teammates in 2024, scoring six more. He
already has two goals and two assists this year.
Jake Mulraney, Zach Elbouzedi and Jason McClelland have
contributed to six goals between them in 2025 and give width to the Pats
attack. Aidan Keena is the joint top scorer in the league with five, including
a brace against Derry City earlier this year, but hasn’t played in six weeks
through injury. Wonderkid Mason Melia, subject to a move to Spurs potentially
rising to €4m at the end of the season, has overcome injury to score twice for
his side this year. The injured Romal Palmer is a big miss, but Jamie Lennon, Barry
Baggley and Kian Leavy are three quality players to deputise in centre mid.
Despite a comfortable 2-0 over Derry City already under the
belt this season, Pat’s’ record at the Brandywell hasn’t been so fruitful.
They’ve won in Derry just three times in the last twenty league and cup matches
between the sides since 2015. City won ten of those, with the other seven being
draws. There are nearly always goals in this tie, there were fifteen in the
five matches between these two last year. City put three past Pat’s twice in
2024, but it was the Dublin side who had the last laugh – leapfrogging the
Candystripes into the European places in the penultimate game of the campaign.
Will Pat’s get their second win over City this year or will the Candystripes
extend their good home form against the Saints on Monday?
Round-up:
Following defeat in Waterford last weekend, Derry City now
face the tall task of overcoming both Shelbourne and St. Pat’s to keep tabs
with those at the top of the table. Winless in the league against Shelbourne
for more than two years, the Candystripes will hope for a repeat of last
season’s 2-0 FAI Cup victory over Damien Duff’s side in the Brandywell. Shels,
on the other hand, have one just once in Derry in the past three years, but
that win did claim the Premier Division title last campaign.
Derry City enjoyed victory in four of the five meetings in
league and cup action with St. Pat’s in 2024, but were outplayed by the Saints
in Inchicore earlier this season and saw their title hopes fade when Pat’s
claimed victory in this tie last October. Unbeaten in the last four between
these two in the Brandywell, City will hope to extend that run on Monday night.
With the Jazz Festival bringing a bit of craic and noise to
the streets in Derry, it’s up to the team to bring it in the Brandywell. The
sun’s supposed to be out, we have two home games in four days and two wins
could *theoretically* put us top. Please get something out of this, Derry.
Pól O’Hare – 29th April 2025
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