Derry City boss Ruaidhrí Higgins was a relieved man following Friday night’s narrow 1-0 win over Cork City, in the Sports Direct FAI Cup.
Sam Todd’s second-half header was enough for the Foylesiders to get into Tuesday’s quarter-final draw.
The 39-year-old gaffer conceded that again his side seemed to struggle in the first half of the game and it’s something he can’t put his finger on why it’s happening.
“Relief is how I would describe my feeling, because Cork were excellent tonight,” he insisted.
“I wouldn’t say it was a free hit for them, but their main goal coming into this season would have been to get promotion and that’s in the bag already you would think, so I’m sure they came out thinking ‘let’s just have a go tonight’ and they did, they were excellent.
“You can see the problems which they are going to cause teams when they come back into the Premier Division next season.
“We had to ride the storm at times no doubt, we had no real rhythm, or flow to our game, which was disappointing, we wanted to come down here to Turner’s Cross and dominate possession, but we couldn’t wrestle control of the game for any real sustained period.
“Our main threats were coming off counter-attacks, but sometimes when it’s not pretty like this and you’re not at your best then it can take a set-play.
“It was a good delivery from Ben [Doherty] and Sam showed a bit of aggression to go and get on the end of it and that’s ultimately how we want the game.
“They had a go at us, and we weathered the storm. We weren’t dominant or free-flowing by any stretch, but we found a way.
“Hopefully come November if we’re lifting the trophy, no one will be talking about this being a brilliant performance.”
The Leesiders’ striking duo of Ruairí Keating and Sean Maguire caused the Brandywell men trouble throughout the tie and Higgins conceded that a superb goal-line clearance by Ciaran Coll and a stunning save by Brian Maher were also big factors why they won the encounter.
“Brian has made an outstanding save, the one which was going into the top corner from Keating, and Ciaran Coll made a goal-line clearance just on half-time to deny Keating, but this is a tough place to survive when you’re under pressure,” said Higgins.
“First half, we didn’t really compete the way we would have liked from a physical point of view. Second half, we did that better and wrestled a bit more control, and we got the breakthrough and hung on.
“We have a decent record here at Turner’s Cross, we’ve won again tonight, did we deserve to win? I don’t really care to be honest, because we’re into the next round and ultimately that’s what it was about coming down here.”
As for the Rebel Army’s gaffer Tim Clancy, he was gutted his side were knocked out of the blue-ribbon cup competition, but took heart by his team’s overall performance.
“I don’t think they had many chances in the game, bar corner kicks and a few set-pieces,” explained Clancy.
“They’re as good as there is in the country and in the Premier Division. They’ll be right there at the last kick against Shelbourne.
“To be honest, I think if we had been 3-1 or 4-1 winners, I don’t think anyone in the stadium could have complained.
“Seani (Maguire) has played very little football after last season and hasn’t had a pre-season, so he’s going to get sharper
“But you can see his quality and physicality. He’s a better player than when he left the country seven or eight years ago.”
