Derry City manager Ruaidhrí Higgins has vowed to fight on and backs himself to bounce back following their Sports Direct FAI Cup Final disappointment.
The 40-year-old, who still has a year remaining on his contract, concedes that his squad needs freshened up going into the 2025 season.
Higgins was bitterly disappointed that his side failed to show up as Drogheda United, who face Bray Wanderers next week to maintain their Premier Division status, deservedly saw his side off.
Despite the result and terrible display, the Limavady native wants to be the man to rebuild his squad.
“I mean it when I say that I back myself,” he stated.
“I’ve worked extremely hard to be in this position. It’s been years and years of hard work. Football is my life; results can go against you and for you, but I’ve always remained confident in myself.
“I have got a belief in what I do and I don’t think that will ever change. I am young, I’ve just turned 40. I’ve gained a lot of experience in the last three-and-a-half years and an awful lot of learning this year, an awful lot, and I’m sure I’ll keep developing. It’s what I love. It’s what I do, it’s all I know. I love the game.
“It’s very, very raw,” he conceded. “I spent eight and a half years as a player, three and a half years as a manager, so that’s 12 years I have represented this club and I’m proud to represent and manage the club. I’m still in contract. When times are tough you have two options; you can roll over or you can come out fighting. I live in a city that when the going gets tough, normally you come out fighting, and that’s what we’ll come out and do.
“The club means an awful lot to me. I can get criticised for being emotionless at times but believe me, I’m an extremely emotional person and when we don’t achieve, it hurts and it hurts badly. It affects your life and it affects the people around your life. Do I still have the drive and hunger to keep going? I think when the dust settles, my intentions right now are to keep going and we have to try and look forward.
“I have a really, really good relationship with Philip (O’Doherty). He has been a big supporter of mine; his support has been unwavering really. It’s not about me. As a collective, we haven’t been good enough.
“The thing that really, really hurts badly, we had both trophies in our hands, and we came up short.”
Higgins, who was quick to praise Kevin Doherty’s side, insisted that his squad lacked that spark not just in the final, but in their final month of the season.
“We didn’t have a spark about us,” he explained. “The last month has been extremely difficult. Four weeks ago, we had the opportunity to win two trophies and it’s been anticlimactic.
“It has been a really terrible end to the season and a huge, huge disappointment when three or four weeks ago we had the opportunity to win two trophies.
“There has to be a refresh and a reboot. There’s work to be done, that’s for sure. There’s work to be done for the club to try and go forward.
“It hurts because there was real, real potential, real excitement and it feels like an anti-climax. There’s a lot of soul searching to be done and it will be a long off-season I’m sure.
“When it really mattered we came up short. We can’t deny that or put any other spin on it. When it really mattered we didn’t produce the goods and that’s the hardest part.
“We talked about it in the dressing room - to get over the line, you need a real, real strong mentality and we need everyone together and we haven’t been good enough in certain periods of the season.”
