Derry’s Disappointment: Shamrock Rovers win the League of Ireland once again
By Ryan Brolly
Another League of Ireland campaign is coming to a close and Derry City have once again come up short to a relentless Shamrock Rovers squad. With two games left of the season the Hoops knew they essentially needed one point at Richmond Park to become mathematically impossible to catch. In front of them; a good St. Patrick’s Athletic team who have achieved success in their own right already this season, securing European football and reaching the final of the FAI Cup. Rovers left it late in the tie to get some goals with Aaron Greene netting the first of the game six minutes from time and Graham Burke scoring two minutes into added time to secure the fourth league title in a row for Shamrock Rovers matching a record set by themselves in the 1980s.
Where does this leave Derry City? Shamrock Rovers' shaky form to begin the year provided a good platform for the Candystripes with the Tallaght outfit only being able to collect five points from their first six games, a run which saw Derry beat them away from home. In comparison Derry picked up 12 points from 6 games having them as a front runner for the title which would be their first since 96/97.
Shamrock Rovers showed their class as the season went on with the last run of nine games resulting in six wins and three draws with Derry City drawing four and losing one game in the same run. Rovers' form and winning mentality having done this three times before definitely aided in this with Derry always chasing as they attempted to win the big one.
The lack of a clinical goalscorer was one of the main problems for the men from the Brandywell with their top goalscorers being Jordan McEneff and Michael Duffy only netting seven each ideally to put together a real challenge they would need to have a quality talisman like Chris Forrester or Graham Burke. They should really be looking to bolster their striking options for next season with the resources available, perhaps looking at a player like Athlone Town’s Frantz Pierrot with the Haitian international scoring 20 goals in the First Division in 2023. Having a strong focal point around an already supremely talented team should help push them closer than they have been before.
Manager Ruaidhrí Higgins has also shown that he can sustain a challenge picking up good results where he was expected to win throughout the season and should be allowed to have another attempt at bringing the title back to Derry, he will just need to strengthen in key areas and hope he can hold onto his talented players who have lifted Derry to second as teams around him like St. Pat’s and Bohemians show intent to challenge for the title next season.
Ryan Brolly is a History and International Relations student at Queens University Belfast and Sport Editor at The Scoop