DERRY City go into their biggest game of the season at fellow title contenders St Patrick’s Athletic in the midst of an injury crisis.
The Foylesiders travelled to Dublin knowing they will be without Ben Doherty, Ciaran Coll, Cameron Dummigan, Patrick McEleney and Daniel Kelly through injury, while Mark Connolly also misses out through suspension and striker Pat Hoban is a major injury doubt due to a hamstring problem.
With just two games remaining of the Premier Division season, the Candystripes sit a couple of points behind Damien Duff’s league leaders Shelbourne, who they host on the final night of the season, so there’s no room for any slip-ups.
Despite the injury woes, Derry manager Ruaidhrí Higgins – who celebrated his 40th birthday on Wednesday – is hoping his side can continue their recent superb form against the Saints.
Stephen Kenny’s side have hit top form, winning their last seven league games, and are also right in with a chance of claiming the title, so Higgins is under no illusions about the size of tonight’s clash.
“There’s an awful lot at stake, of course there is , and the players are in good spirits,” he said.
“We have a good record against St Pat’s this season, and we want that to continue. It’s four games this season, four wins.
“If we rewind back to the start of the season, they were a lot of people’s fancied team to win the league. They didn’t get off to the best of starts, but they’ve hit form at a really good time, and they’ve obviously added well in the summer, so they’re in good form at the minute.
“There’s no doubt they’re the form team in the league at the minute. They’ve been excellent. A lot of players have really hit form, had a good time. Where they are now is where people fancied them to be, so it’s no surprise.”
The Brandywell men go into the game on the back of a good run of form away from home, winning their last couple of outings at Bohemians and Dundalk.
“Our form has picked up away from home in recent times and we’ve won down there before this season, and hopefully we can replicate that again,” said Higgins.
“We go down there with the intent of winning the game and I’ve no doubt that if we play somewhere near our very best, we can win the game.
“Their attacking players have been really, really good in recent weeks and caused problems for teams but I’ll back my players any day of the week.
“We’ve outstanding attacking talent as well. I’ve absolutely no doubt that they’ll have some concern about some of our attacking players as well so I’d rather focus on us.”
The Candystripes have sold out their 500 ticket allocation for this evening and the Limavady man is delighted the supporters are travelling in numbers.
“You saw down in Dalymount a few weeks ago, the impact they can have on the team and on the game,” he said.
“We’ll be looking for them to get right behind us. It’s brilliant numbers that they’re travelling in and hopefully they can have a big impact.
“We all know that this is a football-mad city. It’s a fanatical town about football and I keep referencing, the cup final a couple of years ago when we took well over 20,000 to the Aviva Stadium. That’s the potential this city has.
“We’re building a new stand behind the goal because in a lot of the big games we’ve had people missing out on tickets so there’s huge potential at this football club.
“Hopefully we can do them proud over the next few weeks.”
Elsewhere on Friday, leaders Shels take on Drogheda United at Tolka Park in front of the RTÉ cameras and will be desperate to maintain their cushion ahead of their season-ending trip to Derry.
Europe-chasing Galway United host Sligo Rovers and Bohemians take on Waterford, while on Sunday, champions Shamrock Rovers face relegated Dundalk at Oriel Park.
