Derry City v Mervue United, Friday 7.45pm, Brandywell
Derry City will be looking to put a bad couple of weeks behind them as they look to book a place in the FAI Ford Cup semi-final on Friday evening. Standing in their way will be Mervue United, managed by former cup winner John Glynn. The Galway side have already caused a slight upset in the cup by eventually beating Waterford United 4-0 in the last round, lying in seventh position in the first division they will travel to the Brandywell with nothing to lose.
For Declan Devine’s men it will be a chance to get back to winning ways at home where they haven’t won a game since August 17th. After putting together a run of good results over the last couple of weeks that momentum has ground to a halt, after the loss to St Patrick’s Athletic on Monday 3rd September the candystripes have now lost three in a row, so the cup may come as a welcomed distraction for the side.
Speaking ahead of this game Declan Devine said. ” That we are taking this game as serious as any game we have gone into this season, I have had Mervue looked at over the last couple of weeks and I have also gone down to see them play myself. Under no circumstances will we be taking them for granted, Johnny has a young side who are very talented and with the pace to get in behind any side in this league.”
“From our point of view we know that our home form hasn’t been good this season but we need to put that behind us before Friday, if we put Mervue under pressure early we should get a foothold in the tie that should see us through. We know that the motivation has to be the same as any game although the prize for winning this is a place in the semi-final of the FAI Ford Cup.”
Derry will be without the services of Rory Patterson, Owen Morrison who are on the long term injury list while Ruaidhri Higgins (Deadleg) and Stephen McLaughlin (groin) are major doubts. Stewart Greacen who is suspended for this tie may return to training with the squad next week after scans of his medial ligament injury revealed it wasn’t as bad as was first thought.
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