Derry City 2 Shelbourne 0
Delighted with the performance of his troops against Shelbourne on Saturday night, Ruadhri Higgins has opted to take nothing for granted when challenged on the possibility of Derry City securing a ‘double’ this season.
With the ‘Candystripes’ dumping Damien Duff’s side out of the FAI Cup on a 2-0 scoreline at the Brandywell, Higgins must now prepare for a visit to Dalymount Park in the semi-finals to face Bohemians.
“I’m delighted with the win and, of course, the quality of our performance,” declared Higgins after Saturday night’s quarter-final. “We basically owned the ball throughout the first half and I felt we should have been further ahead at the break.”
Goals from Michael Duffy and Danny Mullen on either side of half-time silenced the travelling support from Drumcondra with Derry always in control and, indeed, the fact that home goalkeeper Brian Maher was never seriously extended told its own story.
The Foyleside club now face the challenge of winning a League and Cup ‘double’ as they currently lie four points adrift of Shelbourne but will face the Dubliners again in the final match of the season on home soil.
Higgins, however, refused to discuss such a scenario, prepared only to focus his immediate attention on next Friday night’s televised fixture against Shamrock Rovers.
“The players produced a professional performance, they were excellent throughout against Shelbourne and they’ve now set up another major challenge next month when travelling to face Bohemians at Dalymount.
“We’ve defeated the FAI Cup holders, St. Pat’s. We’ve travelled to Cork to face a difficult hurdle at Turner’s Cross and we’ve now overcome the league leaders to reach the semi-finals so we’ve quite a lot to look forward to.
“The league campaign is a totally different situation and I’ve no doubt there will be quite a few twists and turns before the season ends,” added the Derry boss.
Drogheda United will host Wexford in the other semi-final with the fixtures will be played on the week ending October 6th.
Derry City: Maher, Wisdom, Connolly, Coll, Doherty (Boyce 42), O’Reilly, Diallo (P McEleney 65), McMullen, Patching (Davenport 85), Duffy, Mullen (Hoban 65).
Shelbourne: Kearns, Wilson, Barrett, Griffin (Tulloch 61), Ledwidge, O’Sullivan (Burt 73), Coyle, Wood (Bone 61), Coote (Caffrey 73), O’Brien, Smith (Boyd 61).
Referee: Rob Harvey (Dublin).
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