Derry City v Shamrock Rovers Match Thread

[Neutrino]

It was very worrying to see Whelan struggle to walk off his injury, and seeing him thump the ground doesn't bode well.

Hopefully he hasn't done any damage to his ACL, lad deserves a bit of luck.

Thought the same but surely he wouldn't have stayed on the pitch if it was only going to aggrevate the problem considering what he's been through

[dcfc_legend9]

Gave Rovers far too much respect to start with. Tactically inept how can you allow Byrne so much space and time to turn on the ball. He was head and shoulders above most players on the field tonight because we allowed him to be.

Their first goal was top class though. Can't believe we gave them the space however.

Someone let Diallo know the game has been and gone. He is slow on the ball. Absolutely lackadaisical. Swans about and offers nothing.

Mcgonigle has lost the pace he used to have. Couldn't even get close to cleary or lopes tonight. Every time the ball was played forward he was in the wrong place positionally.

Tactically we are absolutely horrific. Time for Higgins to change the way we play. Earn your crust winning games is what is required not tippy tappy shite along the back four without any potency.

Why did we go two up top near the end of we weren't going to hit Kavanagh and hopefully win the breaking balls/second phase. The ball went Maher to big Shane and outwards from there.

Tonight was pathetic and that's the honest truth. I wouldn't even look at how far off Rovers we are I honestly don't see us finishing second.

Hope Collie Whelan is alright aswell. Don't know why we kept him on when he was clearly hurt. Go down to 10 men and get him off. Poor to keep him on when he has been out for so long.

When are we going to see Derry come out of second gear as Reynolds and everyone else has been talking about. When is the last time Duffy and Fats have played together for 90 mins?

[Keyser Soze]

Talking of Fats, any update on him?
Why are players injuries like state secrets around the club? Keep us updated.

[rodgers]

On the TV it suggested he'd be out for a few weeks yet. Might not see him Dummigan or Connolly this side of break.

One thing I notice before goal was that it looked like we were happy to let the ball run out for a throw.

Rovers nullified wingers this eve.

[dcfc_legend9]

Another thing what's the craic with our throw ins? Why are we so static. Surely this has to be coached in training. So many times tonight we struggled to find a man with our throws as nobody moved.

Then when watching Rovers they were able to throw it straight to one of their men each time as we seemed to switch off and allow them to receive the ball.

Stupid stuff that seems to be happening week in and week out.

Hopefully these can be seen by the coaching and management.

[Paddydcfc2010]

Dire stuff. Diallo and mceleney just pass backwards and diallo loses possession all the time. O Neill was also poor and looked out of his depth. You can only blame the pitch so much, rovers played decent stuff on it tonight especially first half.

[johnm]

Rovers the better team tonight.
We could have had a draw out of it but that’s football, Brian’s howler and a missed penalty, no guarantees.
Brian is young and probably knows he learns every game.
We’ve found that we are in a tough league and will have to wait to get the right fit and luck to win the league but not this season.
The defence is good but goals are hard to come by as only Drogheda, UCD, Cork and Shelbourne scored less than us.
A lot of our players must be feeling rough as rovers pulled the strings, playwise, and physically we were short.
Took Larne a few years with Bruce’s backing to win an Irish league title.
What a difference good supporters do to lift a team when they are struggling. We’ve a small group who consistently belt out their efforts but they need a regular constructive contribution from others to create a buzz for the players to latch onto, even when there’s a number of good players out injured or off form. It’s a partnership.

[stevebradley]

Another thing what's the craic with our throw ins? Why are we so static. Surely this has to be coached in training. So many times tonight we struggled to find a man with our throws as nobody moved.

Then when watching Rovers they were able to throw it straight to one of their men each time as we seemed to switch off and allow them to receive the ball.

Stupid stuff that seems to be happening week in and week out.

Hopefully these can be seen by the coaching and management.

This has been annoying me for a while. Our throw-ins are so predictable. Firstly we struggle to find a player to get it too, as few want to show for it. And then 99% of the time our only tactic is to kick it straight back to the thrower with one touch. Which is far too predictable.

Throw-ins are a set piece, so are one of the few things in a game that we get to control. We should have a clearer and better idea for what to do with them.

[joe3576]

Without a centre forward we have no chance of pushing for the league.

Rovers have Kenny, Burke, Green and Gaffney -

We have nothing in comparison, apart from Whelan (we hope)

McGonigle one goal in 12 and if we included last seasons second half record - it would be horrific. His lack of effort or closing down too is dreadful - while Maher takes the blame for their second goal, the Rovers striker done brilliantly to put him and McJannett under so much pressure to cause the error - something McGonigle never does. As someone else posted on here, he continually is on the wrong side of defenders when balls are played forward - he really seems to have a fundamental issue with showing for the ball, being a number 9.

Kavanagh one goal in 12 also

But they are both very average players, who have quite poor ball control, and McGonigle in particular puts no pressure at all on the opposition defenders.

Kavanagh shows some effort, but the reality is that he looks 2-3 years too early to lead the line - ideally, he would need a loan spell out where he will get regular games and then we can judge how good he actually is.

With a lack of goals from midfield also, apart from Whelan, Duffy and set pieces, you wonder where our goal threat is.

[davybhoy]

Can't continue to make excuses. For me personally I'm starting to doubt Higgins- tactics aren't great and starting McGonigle a so-called striker that can't score. Derry's wage bill must be a fortune compared to others in the league. We have players tied to long term deals who we are stuck with- I know we complained when we didn't have players on LT deals but since McGonigle signed a 4 year extension last year he hasn't done a tap for example. So if we are saying we are a bit off rovers level how do we close the gap without bloating the squad if we can't get rid of some on big money.

I do think Dummigan and Connolly will make a difference but our problem is really the final third.

[joe3576]

Our transfer business, considering the amount of money we have spent, is still 50/50 at best:

McGonigle - has failed
Maher - has been good
Duffy and Fats - okay, but are both going to play enough games for us to sustain a league challenge ? Dundalk were happy to let both go, and were only disappointed in losing Dummigan to us (that is from a Dundalk director)
Dummigan - has been good
Patching - jury out
Graydon - to me he is still just a 1st division player
Brandon Kavanagh - don't think he is any better than Ewan Mclaughlin
Cain Kavanagh - not ready yet
O'Neill - too lightweight for LOI
Ward - why was he even signed, if he will not get a game
Connolly - good
Diallo - badly off the boil / jury out
McEnuff - jury out as not getting enough games - which is not his fault to be fair - player of the month in March and cannot get a game now - very strange
O'Reilly - seems very good, but we did pay a huge amount to get him
Ben Doherty - looks okay, but defensively he is finding this is a big step-up from IL
Colm Whelan - not sure yet

Few other questions -

Why bring Ewan Mclaughlin back from Coleraine if there is no intention of playing him ?
Coll and McEnuff two of our best players in the early part of the season - then both dropped for no obvious reason. Coll is a better defender than Ben Doherty.
Has O'Neill been signed by Fulham on the basis that he must play every game - i see nothing in 12-13 games to justify him playing every week instead of say McEnuff,and even dare I say, Brandon Kavanagh

What are Coll, McEnuff and Brandon Kavanagh - really thinking deep down ?

It sounds crazy to say, but after last night - the squad still looks 3-4 players short - possibly 2 strikers, right winger and a proper midfielder (although Dummigan should address that) - but to accommodate this, we then would need to offload 3-4 players, which indicates that the transfer policy over the last 18 months has not worked; if we need to start overhauling it already.

[brandyball]

Our transfer business, considering the amount of money we have spent, is still 50/50 at best:

McGonigle - has failed
Maher - has been good
Duffy and Fats - okay, but are both going to play enough games for us to sustain a league challenge ? Dundalk were happy to let both go, and were only disappointed in losing Dummigan to us (that is from a Dundalk director)
Dummigan - has been good
Patching - jury out
Graydon - to me he is still just a 1st division player
Brandon Kavanagh - don't think he is any better than Ewan Mclaughlin
Cain Kavanagh - not ready yet
O'Neill - too lightweight for LOI
Ward - why was he even signed, if he will not get a game
Connolly - good
Diallo - badly off the boil / jury out
McEnuff - jury out as not getting enough games - which is not his fault to be fair - player of the month in March and cannot get a game now - very strange
O'Reilly - seems very good, but we did pay a huge amount to get him
Ben Doherty - looks okay, but defensively he is finding this is a big step-up from IL
Colm Whelan - not sure yet

Few other questions -

Why bring Ewan Mclaughlin back from Coleraine if there is no intention of playing him ?
Coll and McEnuff two of our best players in the early part of the season - then both dropped for no obvious reason. Coll is a better defender than Ben Doherty.
Has O'Neill been signed by Fulham on the basis that he must play every game - i see nothing in 12-13 games to justify him playing every week instead of say McEnuff,and even dare I say, Brandon Kavanagh

What are Coll, McEnuff and Brandon Kavanagh - really thinking deep down ?

It sounds crazy to say, but after last night - the squad still looks 3-4 players short - possibly 2 strikers, right winger and a proper midfielder (although Dummigan should address that) - but to accommodate this, we then would need to offload 3-4 players, which indicates that the transfer policy over the last 18 months has not worked; if we need to start overhauling it already.

Why is the jury out on some players but most definitely not on others? On who's opinion are they not good enough or not ready etc etc,,?

[rodgers]

I've also been wondering whether it's a condition of the O'Neill loan that he must play a certain number of games.

I also don't understand why McLaughlin was brought back from loan.

B Kavanagh I think wasn't used properly last year. I also think that McGonigle started v well when he was first signed but that was when he was playing off the side. He's just not a lone striker.

Is there any word on Whelan? It was distressing watching him on TV and i can't believe he stayed on.

[daniel]

Our transfer business, considering the amount of money we have spent, is still 50/50 at best:

McGonigle - has failed
Maher - has been good
Duffy and Fats - okay, but are both going to play enough games for us to sustain a league challenge ? Dundalk were happy to let both go, and were only disappointed in losing Dummigan to us (that is from a Dundalk director)
Dummigan - has been good
Patching - jury out
Graydon - to me he is still just a 1st division player
Brandon Kavanagh - don't think he is any better than Ewan Mclaughlin
Cain Kavanagh - not ready yet
O'Neill - too lightweight for LOI
Ward - why was he even signed, if he will not get a game
Connolly - good
Diallo - badly off the boil / jury out
McEnuff - jury out as not getting enough games - which is not his fault to be fair - player of the month in March and cannot get a game now - very strange
O'Reilly - seems very good, but we did pay a huge amount to get him
Ben Doherty - looks okay, but defensively he is finding this is a big step-up from IL
Colm Whelan - not sure yet

Few other questions -

Why bring Ewan Mclaughlin back from Coleraine if there is no intention of playing him ?
Coll and McEnuff two of our best players in the early part of the season - then both dropped for no obvious reason. Coll is a better defender than Ben Doherty.
Has O'Neill been signed by Fulham on the basis that he must play every game - i see nothing in 12-13 games to justify him playing every week instead of say McEnuff,and even dare I say, Brandon Kavanagh

What are Coll, McEnuff and Brandon Kavanagh - really thinking deep down ?

It sounds crazy to say, but after last night - the squad still looks 3-4 players short - possibly 2 strikers, right winger and a proper midfielder (although Dummigan should address that) - but to accommodate this, we then would need to offload 3-4 players, which indicates that the transfer policy over the last 18 months has not worked; if we need to start overhauling it already.

Evan is currently sidelined and awaiting tests to determine whether he will play again.

[Keyser Soze]

Sounds serious. Has he picked up an injury too, or is it nothing football related.

[daniel]

Not football related Keyser. Could be serious, but could be nothing all the same, so fingers crossed for Evan, its the latter.

[Keyser Soze]

For sure, best wishes to him.

[st.louis hoop]

Easiest win in the Brandywell in my 25+ year following Rovers. We were better from minute 1 to 90. Most Rovers fans would of taken a draw pre-game especially with Burke and Gaffney half fit.

Jack Byrne ran the game. Diallo and O'Reilly didnt get close to him all game. Jack is too good to give that much time and space to play. Best player we have had in my generation. A joy to watch.

It is your 4th peno in last 4 games you've played against us in the Brandywell. Even with the dodgy peno (your 2nd one in 4 days at home), you were miles off us on the night. I do think that we are the best 2 teams in the league but got in the car to drive home thinking we will still win the league at a canter.

As for the off field shananigans, it happens every time we play there. Hoops fans targeted by toerag teenagers but not even the raining eggs on us would of spoiled that party.

What has happened the atmosphere at the Brandywell? We didnt even get a chant in return all night.

[brandyball]

It was very worrying to see Whelan struggle to walk off his injury, and seeing him thump the ground doesn't bode well.

Hopefully he hasn't done any damage to his ACL, lad deserves a bit of luck.

The word is he's done his ACL again, awful if true.

[Marty]

The poor lad, that's tragic.

The same thing happened to my brother, who did it three times trying to come back, I know how heartbreaking it can be.