Ryan McBride back for Derry for thiw weekend’s clash with Limerick City
ALL roads lead from Derry to Limerick tomorrow evening (Saturday, October 17), as the Candystripes look to bag three points that would go a long way to securing their future in the SSE Airtricity Premier League.
Temporary manager Paul Hegarty knows a win has the potential to keep his side in the premiership for another season.
With three just rounds of fixtures remaining, Derry City are on 32 points – 6 points clear of lowly Limerick who remain rooted to the bottom of the table on 26 points.
If City were to secure three points tomorrow night it would guarantee the Candystripes will not face automatic relegation.
And if City were to win and results elsewhere went their way, Premier Division status could be secured.
But tomorrow’s game is a not a gimme by any stretch of the imagination and Derry will need to bring their form book to Treaty City.
Although stuck to the bottom of the tabe, Limerick are looking for a miracle escape and the Candystripes could leave with less than three points if Limerick bring their A game to the match.
Since the two sides last met in July Limerick have only lost once and that was to Champions to Dundalk.
And in recent weeks, Martin Russell’s side have put together a stunning run of form and now sit only two points off their rivals in the basement.
They may be propping up the table of late they have been Cork City and St Pat’s.
So tomorrow evening’s game is by no means a certainty that Derry will be heading back to the north west with three valuable points.
The tremendous run of form has coincided with the return of the Blues to one of the spiritual homes of football in the city, the Markets Field.
The club are reporting strong interest off the field, with an marked increase in attendances to match the winning run.
Paul Hegarty welcomes Aaron Barry and Ryan McBride back into the panel, adding to his defensive options.
Hegarty has overseen an upturn in the City fortunes since taking over from Peter Hutton and will be keen to ensure that his side cement their survival as early as possible.
The City boss has challenged his attacking players to respond, and with three goals against Bray last Friday, his request was more than answered.
Whilst Limerick have been collecting wins, they have been leaking goals and the 0-0 draw against City in July was the last time that they kept a clean sheet, surely a point for the boss to bring up in the pre-match briefings.
City have been defensively sound under Hegarty, with Bray the first side to score against City in the Hegarty era.
With Barry and McBride back to compliment McLaughlin, Jarvis, Cornwall there are plenty of defensive options for the boss to choose from.
Hegarty will continue to rely on the likes of O’Connor, Timlin and McEleney to provide the goals further on up the field for City, with Timlin grabbing his 11th goal of the campaign last week to set City on the road to victory.
And if Hegarty can secure premiership status by the end of the season, it would strongly convince him to sign up as the full time manager.
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