Derry City boss Ruaidhrí Higgins believes his side need to win next Sunday’s FAI Cup Final against Drogheda United to avoid the 2024 campaign being labelled a season of ‘huge underachievement’.
The Limavady native was a dejected man following their disappointing loss to champions Shelbourne, at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium, on Friday night.
Damien Duff’s table toppers secured the title thanks to Harry Wood’s late strike and the defeat also means the Foylesiders finished the campaign in fourth place, meaning they need to see off Drogheda at the Aviva Stadium this Sunday, to secure European football for 2025.
“If we don’t (win the FAI Cup) it will go down as an extremely disappointing year,” said Higgins.
“I can’t put any other spin on it. It’s the way it is. We have to win the cup to take some satisfaction and pride out of the season.
“We have nine days to prepare for a massive day in the football calendar and we need everyone together, everyone behind us to go and try and lift one of the two trophies that’s available in this country.”
The 40-year-old felt Shels were worthy champions and conceded the Dubliners changing room showed more character than his squad.
“It’s gut-wrenching being on the receiving end of it but you have to say they’ve shown real personality and character to go and win the league. They’ve certainly shown more than what we have,” he insisted.
“They are worthy champions. They had a difficult spell but they dug in and won their last three league games of the season to get over the line.
“In games away to Drogheda and away to Sligo, places like that, we haven’t picked up anywhere near enough points.
“Last week (against St Pat’s) wasn’t the one that cost us. They have been too many over the course of the season and truth be told, we’ve let ourselves down in the same venues. We and I have to take responsibility for that.”
Higgins was also quick to point out that the Premier Division table doesn’t lie and his side deserved to finish in fourth place.
“Where you end up is where you deserve to be so I can’t have any complaints about that. It’s just very difficult to accept that with two games to go you still have a chance of winning the league and then the season peters out,” he explained.
“It’s not about tonight (Friday). Over the 36 games we’ve lost too many, we’ve drawn too many and we have to accept that our points return hasn’t been good enough.”
As for his opposite number, the former Republic of Ireland winger acknowledged that his ex-Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho gave a motivational message to his squad ahead of Friday evening’s encounter.
“We have an Instagram page, there must be 150 posts on it now,” confirmed Duff.
“I started last season and it’s got tactical training, shape, formations, everything, and just over time I might put motivational stuff, I might throw a joke in there or whatever, but it’s just the players’ page.
“There is a lot of learning in it. So any new player that comes in, they get a login to the page and there is gold on it, golden comedy, but golden learning as well. Three weeks ago, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, we posted Ian McGeechan, powerful, powerful speeches.
“I got a private message off Neil Doyle from Ian McGeechan, so we just followed up on the day of the match, Ian McGeechan, with a powerful message, and we beat Waterford.
“Onto the next week, okay, Joe (O’Brien) says, ‘Gaffer, what do you want to do?’. ‘I don’t know’.
“I met Colin Hawkins in the carpark, I found him utterly inspirational, his story, his wife’s story, what they’ve been through. He lifted me that day when I should have been lifting him.
“Again we put posts Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and surprised the lads and (Hawkins) spoke to the lads for half-an-hour.
“We didn’t show anything on Drogheda, we let Colin speak and Boydy (Sean Boyd) came out, he said it was the best meeting he had in three years. It put everything in perspective and really hit home.
“Then on to this week, Joey again, ‘gaffer, what will we do?’ I dunno, I’m running out of ideas.
“I threw in, ‘What about Jose?’. ‘Why Jose?’. Because do I try and build, have we tried to build a siege mentality, us against the world like he did? Absolutely. It would be mad not to tap into him.
“So Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, there were posts on the Instagram page; powerful lyrics, powerful words that would resonate and have a meaning to tie in for tonight (Friday).
“Then in the team meeting (today - Friday) there was a private message from Jose speaking about what it takes to win a title as a team, as an individual. It blew the guys away. A video that was shown in the Everglades two hours before the game.
“Again, people think I’m mad but I’m a proudly deep thinker. I don’t always get it right, the last three weeks myself and the staff I would like to think have got it right.
“We’ve been so calm and tapped into other people because I don’t think I’m any type of expert, far from it.”
