Candies can get a move on now
OLD PAL RECALLS KING’S SPECIAL REIGN AT DERRY
club side was 21 years ago with Finn Harps.
He had a two-game spell in charge of the senior Ireland men’s team — against Germany and Kazakhstan in 2013, between Giovanni Trapattoni and Martin O’Neill.
King managed the women’s senior team for 10 years and led the Under-17s — a side that included Denise O’Sullivan — to the 2010 World Cup in Trinidad and Tobago.
But when it came to Hollywood, nothing could rival his time as player-manager at Derry City.
“We went overnight from a team of near enough locals to suddenly having South Africans, Brazilians… if you think about it, we don’t even have that cosmopolitan mix now,” adds O’Doherty.
A former Finn
Harps,
Coleraine and Dundalk player, and closing in on his 40th birthday at the time, O’Doherty only made a handful of appearances under King.
“He brought me in and said, ‘Sit down, listen to me now, you are finished, you are done, you are gone’. That’s how he did it,” says the Creggan native, who continued to coach at the club.
Friends
“Kinger got rid of me very quickly, and I’ve never forgiven him. Nah, we’re still good friends.”
They are close enough that O’Doherty was straight on the phone to King last Friday night, when news broke of his sensational return to League of Ireland management.
King is 67 now — 10 years younger than his old Derry pal,
And then he found form for Town, scoring 22 goals to earn his move to the Drogs.
All he needed then was time.
Eventually his break came after nearly 400 minutes without a goal.
Pierrot said: “It has been a slow start for me so it was important for me and the team to
ADAM O’REILLY reckons Derry City can be unstoppable if they can get momentum in this year’s title race.
The Candystripes bounced back from the disappointment of Friday’s 3-1 defeat at home to Shamrock Rovers to win by the same scoreline three nights later against St Patrick’s Athletic.
Next up is tonight’s trip to Waterford.
It hasn’t been the start to the season that Derry would have wanted, with defeats against Bohemians, Galway United and Rovers denting their title charge.
However, midfielder O’Reilly (above) is confident they can build up a head of steam and ignore any criticism of their performances so far.
“It’s still early in the season, you can see how tight the league is right now, so no one is out of the title race.
“There are a lot of games to play and if we can get a few more wins under our belt I don’t think anyone can stop us, if I’m being honest.”
O’Reilly was impressed with the resilience on display as the
Candystripes bounced back from their defeat to Rovers.
“There are a lot of players in that dressing room with a lot of grit and that showed against St Pat’s.
“We have shown that we can play good football but also that we can work hard. “We are all looking forward to (Waterford) now, especially after the Pat’s game. That has given us our confidence back. “A few of the results went our way on Monday as well, so if we can keep that momentum we will be in a very good spot.”
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