Derry City hope to strike a fatal blow to Shamrock Rovers’ hopes of five championships in a row with victory at the Brandywell on Friday night.
Stephen Bradley’s team have inserted themselves right back into the mix at the top of the table after successive victories over Sligo Rovers and Galway United in the past week. They now travel north with the incentive of moving to within one point of second place if they can defeat City for a third time this season.
Ruaidhri Higgins, who has never ruled Rovers out of the title picture, insists that the Dubliners’ campaign has not been as bad as some have made out.
“There was never any doubt in my mind,” the Candystripes boss said.
“They’re very, very capable. You look at the depth they have, the changes they can make from week to week. It’s frightening actually the quality and the depth they have. Whether they bring people in or out, nothing really changes. They’ve built that squad over a long period of time.
“They’re coming up here after a couple of big wins. We’re after a big win also so it should be a good game.
“Their season hasn’t been as bad as what people make out. They’re still in the race for the League.
“They’re in European group stages and they’re formidable. You look at the strength and depth they have everywhere on the pitch.
“It’s a big, big game. We have to embrace it, we have to enjoy it and we have to try and beat them and put three points on the board.”
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Derry also have a huge incentive as they chase down Shelbourne at the top of the table.
With games running out quickly, there is barely any room for error and, having won so convincingly against the League leaders in last week’s FAI Cup quarter-final, confidence is high going into another huge game.
“Fingers crossed, we can replicate a lot of the elements,” Higgins agreed.
“Obviously Rovers are slightly different in terms of how they play and how they set up. It’s an exciting game and I think it’ll be seriously contested, I’m sure.
“We were two minutes away from winning down in Tallaght. Obviously the second game in Tallaght we weren’t good enough, I accept that, but in the game in the Brandywell, for the first 50-55 minutes, we played really well and got done over a 15 minute period.
“We know that if we can replicate last week’s performance and attack at the speed that we attacked at, then we know that we can cause issues.”
Shelbourne travel to Galway United ion Friday, meaning his could yet be a pivotal weekend in the destination of this season’s League title.
Ben Doherty has been ruled out of Derry’s duel with Rovers after picking up an injury in last week’s win over Shels. Cameron Dummigan and Daniel Kelly remain missing with long-term injuries.