Preview – Derry City v Dundalk

Derry City vs Dundalk – Friday 5th April 2024 – KO 7.45pm – Brandywell

SSE Airtricity Premier Division

Match sponsored by Moore NI

There’s plenty at stake at the Brandywell this Friday night as Derry City welcome Dundalk to the North West in a game where points are at a premium for both teams.

Stephen O’Donnell’s side are currently rooted to the bottom of the table and still seeking their first league win of the season, however the hosts will be keen to boost their recent points tally themselves, having taken just one from their previous three matches.

Monday’s draw at leaders Shelbourne was a bit more like it from Ruaidhri Higgins’ team, however the City boss was under no illusions about the job at hand.

“Monday night was certainly a big improvement on Friday’s display against Galway but we need to take that and look to improve again this weekend” he began.

“I’d say apart from the Sligo game, Dundalk have been well in the rest of their matches so far, and we know they have really good players in their side.

“It’s up to us as the home team to get on the front foot from the start and we need to show real committment to go and try to win the game.

Striker Pat Hoban is the latest Derry player to pick up an injury and manager Higgins said that his number 9 was ‘a major doubt’ for this weekend’s clash.

“He wants to play every game but he’s unlikely to be involved on Friday night; however both Cameron Dummigan and Ben Doherty are very close to a return” he added.

Should those two make it this weekend it would be a major boost to a City squad who have again been plagued by injury in the early part of the campaign.

The Limavady man refused to dwell on that ahead of another big weekend for his charges however and said he wasn’t interested in looking for excuses.

“We have real quality throughout the squad and regardless of any of that we will have a team on the pitch on Friday night who are capable of winning the game.

“We need to give our supporters something to shout about and we’ll do everything in our power to get them right behind us this weekend.”

The match kicks off at 7.45pm and will be streamed live on LOITV.

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Coverage

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As usual, both Drive105 and Radio Foyle will be providing live commentary coverage of the game.