TAKING THE MICHAEL
First Derry bag Pat and now they’re targeting yet another swoop on Dundalk for wing ace Duffy
DERRY City will launch a bid to sign Dundalk’s Michael Duffy after securing Lilywhites’ star Patrick Mceleney from the start of next season.
The Candystripes’ confirmation of the capture of Mceleney in the hour after Dundalk’s European win over Newtown on Thursday night triggered a sharp response from Oriel Park boss Vinny Perth who accused Derry of showing his club “no respect”.
Derry will now enter talks with Dundalk with a view to landing Mceleney during the July transfer window.
And they may be willing to spend up to €15,000 to net the Derryman with Ruaidhri Higgins’ club emboldened by the fact Dundalk accepted €30,000 from Linfield for Chris Shields two weeks ago.
Mceleney’s fellow former Brandywell star Duffy is also an immediate target for Derry.
The Candystripes are confident that Duffy will return in the winter but would prefer to sign the winger now. The board – led by chairman Philip O’doherty – is keen to back Higgins who, ironically, arrived from Dundalk as manager three months ago.
Linfield remain keen to sign Dundalk striker Pat Hoban who, like all the remaining players bar Andy Boyle, are out of contract at the end of this season.
Meanwhile, Perth
(right) won’t rest too many players for Tuesday’s return date with Newtown in Oswestry as Dundalk seek to advance to the second qualifying round of the Europa Conference League, despite enjoying a 4-0 first leg win.
“In days gone by, I might have made seven or eight changes ahead of the game on Tuesday,” said Perth.
“I don’t think we can do that. We need to keep building and make the team better and make the team understand what we’re doing. I haven’t set any goals in Europe. This has been the most difficult week I’ve had at the club ever because of Covid issues, because of different things.
“I just don’t know where that goes or takes us. I haven’t had time. Normally, you’ve got a little eye on Levadia Tallinn or the winners of that tie.
“I don’t know anything about any opposition at the moment. We’ve just focused on the game at the time.
“I know that’s a boring answer but we are like that as a group. We feel we’ve got areas of improvement. It’s just one game at a time.”
This week’s Covid-19 issue at Dundalk means that Hoban, Cameron Dummigan and Sean Murray will not be available for the second leg but all three could be back for next Saturday’s home league game with Finn Harps.