CONNOLLY HAILS STANDARD IN LEAGUE RISE AND SHINE
IT IS only a couple of weeks since Derry City stared down the tunnel and saw no light at the end of it.
But tonight when they exit the tunnel at Weavers Park they will see the future is once again as bright as a brand new dawn.
That’s the 2024 League summed up in a nutshell, where fortunes can change in a week and a team’s status can shift from washed-up bottlers to contenders.
“What I would say about this season is that it is a considerably tougher League than it was even 12 months ago,” says Derry’s 32-year-old defender, Mark Connolly.
Improve
“In fact, I’d go even further. Year on year, this League keeps getting better and better. Every year I have seen it improve. The standard of play, the standard of coaching, the tactical nuances, the high levels of fitness, is really of a top level. And it is brilliant to be a part of that.
“I’ve played in Scotland (with Kilmarnock, Dundee United and Dunfermline Athletic). It’s a good League and in my view the top teams here could put it up to a lot of the Scottish sides. The Old Firm is a step above, obviously. The remaining sides in Scotland are excellent, really good players sourced from all over the world.
“So, I can’t speak highly enough of it. I loved my time in Scotland. The facilities are brilliant, the crowds are passionate, the standard is excellent.
“But the point I really want to make is that the standard is really good at home here, too.
“The big difference is facilities and the grounds. That’s what we want to improve here.”
Yet that call has been made for a quarter of a century and few in Local Councils or central Government has bothered to listen.
Some grounds — Tallaght, Turner’s Cross, Sligo’s Showgrounds, Athlone Town Stadium — have either been built from scratch or upgraded.
But in other places nothing has changed and it undermines the progress being made on the field.
Connolly said: “This is a brilliant product we have in Ireland.
“This year’s League sums it up. There isn’t one easy game, every week is a battle. And as players, that is what you want. You want to test yourself against the best. You don’t want an easy game, a fixture where you know it is three easy points. You want to be challenged. And that’s happening, week after week after week.”
Tonight that test comes from Drogheda, a side who drew with leaders Shelbourne last weekend, and who ran Derry close on the opening night.
Last year they did even better, beating Shamrock Rovers and Derry, the eventual top two, on home
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their patch.
Connolly said: “I’ve so much respect for Kevin Doherty and the job he has done.
“Like they have lost big players at the end of the last two seasons but he has gone out and replaced them with equally talented ones. His eye for a player is incredible.
“And they are a super team. The football they play, the energy they have, the bottle they show, it’s