Ruaidhrí Higgins insists his Derry City side will be going all out to end their league campaign on a winning note when they face leaders Shelbourne at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium tomorrow evening.
While the Candystripes’ hopes of a first top flight title since 1997 ended with defeat at St Patrick’s Athletic last week, Damien Duff’s men know three points on Foyleside will secure their first championship since 2006.
However they are also aware that if they slip up, Shamrock Rovers are waiting in the wings to clinch their fifth league title in-a-row as they sit two points adrift and host Waterford tonight.
Higgins, who says he doesn’t care who wins the title, admits his side are still hurting after last week’s loss at Richmond Park, and is only focusing on finishing the 2024 campaign on a positive note, especially in front of the Brandywell faithful, who have the FAI Cup final against Drogheda United to look forward to on Sunday week.
“It’s our last home game of the season before the cup final and we want to build the optimism before the final and the best way to do that is by winning your last home game,” said Higgins.
“We had our goal right the way through the season and it was to try and win the league and we haven’t been successful at that, and it’s obviously extremely disappointing, but we have a job in our hands now to finish in the top three.
“It has been very difficult. There’s no point in saying otherwise. It’s just very strange when you have so much hope and expectation and then it’s gone and the realisation of that.
“You still have to get your head around it quickly and prepare and be as professional as you can and I think we’ve done that.”
City’s defeat to Stephen Kenny’s side last Friday night, combined with Rovers’ win over Dundalk on Sunday, means Derry sit in fourth place going into the final fixtures and are out of an automatic Uefa Conference League spot.
While the FAI Cup Final against Drogheda United would give them another chance to secure European football for 2025, Higgins wants that aim taken care of tomorrow.
“When you get into the second-last game with a chance of winning the league and then you have a job to finish in the top three it just shows you the nature of it,” said the Limavady man.
“It’s been a mad year and a rollercoaster-type year but we have to finish the season strong at home and then get ourselves prepared for the following week.
“We’ve just tried to make training this week as bright as possible and as lively as possible and enjoyable as possible.
“Obviously, there’s a big prize available in the not too distant future so I think that’s enough to keep anyone going.
“We want to finish the season strongly at home, we want to win the game and we want to go into the following week having won our last game and we’ll do everything in our power to do that.
“We know what’s coming up here, we know there’s so much on the line for them but we have to have a bit of balance and show how proud we are to represent this club because that’s really important.
“We’re professionals, we want to get a result for this football club regardless of who else is involved. We finished the season with a good win last year against St Pat’s and we want to do the same again this year.
“There’s two or three months of an off-season, two months now before pre-season starts so you have enough time to reflect on that, and in the meantime we have to focus on the game here on Friday and in the cup final.”
City will welcome centre-back Mark Connolly back from suspension but Pat Hoban continues to struggle with a hamstring problem.
One man who will be hoping to impress again is defender Duncan Idehen. The 22-year-old was given his first start at Inchicore and produced a tremendous performance.
“He was excellent, he was really good,” said Higgins.
“He’s got brilliant athletic attributes, he’s left-sided so he gives you good balance and he was excellent in the game.
“He’s a young lad and young in terms of men’s football as well so there’s loads of potential, there’s loads to work with here but it’s important that we look after him and feed him in.”
While all eyes will be on the Brandywell, Stephen Bradley’s Hoops will be hoping they can get a favour from the Foylesiders as they look to become the first club ever to win five titles in-a-row, but they must win their game first and foremost and see where it takes them.