PREVIEW AND INFO: DERRY CITY V DUNDALK FC
Dundalk are back on the road in the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division when they face Derry City at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium on Friday night.
Stephen O’Donnell’s side are winless in their opening seven games but have generally performed well on their away trips, including scoring their only two goals to date.
Following a 1-1 draw at reigning champions Shamrock Rovers on the opening day of the season, they have lost by a single goal at St Patrick’s Athletic and, last Friday, Shelbourne.
Their home form, which has been so strong over the past two years, has let them down, failing to score and collecting just two points from a possible 12, the latest of which came in the Louth Derby against Drogheda United on Easter Monday.
That leaves the Lilywhites propping up the table, three points adrift of Drogheda in ninth and nine points off Derry who sit below second-placed Sligo Rovers only on goal difference, as the first round of fixtures draws to a close next week.
Having started strongly with three wins and two draws from their first five outings, Derry’s progress has stalled with just one point from the last nine available, a period in which Dundalk have picked up two points.
Ruaidhrí Higgins’ side suffered back-to-back defeats, away to Bohemians before the international break and at home to Galway United after it, but arrested the slide somewhat when playing out a drab scoreless draw with Shels at Tolka Park on Monday.
Derry – with one win in five – now return home where, prior to that 1-0 loss to Galway, they had built a fortress, rattling off four straight wins and going unbeaten since May 1st last when they went down to Shamrock Rovers.
Last season, Derry took eight points from this fixture, including winning the last two meetings, 3-0 at The Brandywell in May and 3-1 at Oriel Park in September. Before that, the sides had played out a 0-0 draw in the North in March and a 2-2 draw this side of the border in April.
Dundalk’s last win on the Lone Moor Road came on the final day of the 2022 season when Keith Ward scored the only goal of the game early on, following on from another victory there earlier that year. That was a campaign where Dundalk collected eight of the 12 points available.
Team News
Archie Davies is suspended after his red card in the Louth Derby on Monday but Dara Keane and Jamie Walker are hoping to be involved.
Quotes – Ross Munro
“It has been a tough start, but I feel like we’re so close to just taking off. I feel like we’re bubbling away but we need to make that luck, we need to earn that ball going into the net, trickling over the line. We need to do that – it’s not going to come by itself.
“I feel like we’ll get there. It’s a tough league. Teams are all the same, I feel. Every game is a cup final, anyone can win on the day. Once we start putting the ball in the net, I think we’ll take off.
“I was really looking forward to the Drogheda game when I got told I was playing. Everyone wants to play in a derby. I really enjoyed it. I’m glad obviously we didn’t concede, but we didn’t win the game, which I feel we should have with the chances we had.
“The defence was really good. I thought Mayowa Animasahun and Zak Johnson were so solid, they won everything. It was good to see Mounts (John Mountney) back on the pitch as well, I thought he did really well. It was a good overall team performance, it was just lacking the ball going into the net.
“Friday will be a tough game. Derry have had a good start to the season and have good players. It’ll be a tough test. But, as I said, every game is a cup final, and any team can win on the day.
“We’ll go into the game with full confidence that we can beat them and take the three points back here. We don’t fear them but we’re wary of them. We don’t fear any team, to be honest. It’ll be a good game, it’ll be tough, but we’ll give it our all.”
Match Officials
Referee: David Dunne
Assistants: Allen Lynch and Chris Campbell
Fourth Official: Marc Lynch
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