Derry on the brink
Candystripes close in on first FAI Cup final in eight years – but Treaty are no pushovers
THEY will flow in their thousands down the Lone Moor Road today. Early too, for that is the way of football fans on Foyleside. The pre-match chat will be upbeat as everything favours their beloved Derry City on their Brandywell manor. It’s a home semi-final in the Extra.ie FAI Cup against Treaty United from the First Division and the Candystripes are in a rich vein of form under Ruaidhri Higgins.
And yet, dappled within the ranks of the expectant, a few will urge caution. Remember the Carlisle Grounds? Some have never forgotten.
To this day, Derry City’s defeat by Bray Wanderers of the First Division in the 1990 semi-final jars among the cognoscenti, almost as much as it does with Bohs diehards, forced to stomach a numbing loss to non-league St Francis the same afternoon.
Those extraordinary semi-final outcomes serve as a timely reminder of the FAI Cup’s capacity to shock. Nothing is guaranteed.
And yet, it is impossible to look beyond an act of deliverance for Derry and a return march of Higgins’ heroes to the Aviva Stadium. The eight-year gap between finals is akin to an ice age for a club that contested 10 deciders between 1988 and 2014, winning five of them.
The links to the last FAI Cup final appearance remain strong. On the playing side, there are the McEleney brothers, Patrick and Shane, winger Michael Duffy – while the late Ryan McBride, a warrior in red and white, will be forever remembered in the name of the Brandywell.
The younger McEleney, just turned 30, has crammed more FAI Cup experiences into a career than most and is targeting a seventh Cup final appearance, his third with Derry to go with four for Dundalk. It would have been five for the Lilies but for injury in 2019.
A winner in 2012 against St Pats, the midfielder was outstanding in the 2-0 loss to the same club in the 2014 final and has a deep appreciation of what today means to his hometown club to bridge that gap between finals.
‘It’s a huge game, especially where the club is trying to go as we want to take pride in winning trophies. It’s the biggest game the club has had in a long time,’ he said. We could have sold out the Brandywell three times over. The demand for tickets has been fierce.
‘It’s been like that since the start of the season, sell-outs every week. That’s down to the club and manager. As players, we’re given the best platform to perform and there are no excuses for not doing so.’
Two years ago, McEleney derived little pleasure from being part of Dundalk’s 11-0 win over Athlone Town in a semi-final mis-match in the Midlands.
He knows that Treaty will be far tougher.
‘I played against Treaty last year in the Cup for Dundalk and they took us to extra time. This is a completely different outfit to that Athlone team. They are well organised, their coaching staff have been around the League.
‘They’re in the semi-finals on merit. They’ve beaten a Premier Division team to get there. I know they were beaten last weekend but before that they were on a good run.
‘We’ve done our homework on them as we would against Shamrock Rovers, Bohemians, whoever. It’s down to the players now. We have to be professional, and do a job.’
McEleney is as qualified as any to compare Higgins with Stephen Kenny, his former manager at both Derry and Dundalk. I played for Stephen for a number of seasons, I played with Ruaidhri under Stephen. I played under Stephen and Ruaidhri was part of the coaching staff. Of course, he has picked up small things from him. ‘Stephen has guided certain individuals – Ruaidhri, myself, Stephen O’Donnell at Dundalk – to set standards that you don’t drop below. He’s put that into all of us, how we treat each other, how hard we have to work on match days. ‘They’re similar in some ways, in others quite different. What I can say is this is Ruaidhri’s first full season in charge and he has been amazing for me personally, his attention to detail is second to none.
‘This week we’ve trained at two o’clock to be ready for Sunday’s kick-off time. Everything is down to the detail. He’s a top manager.’
The Derry-Treaty tie will finish before Shamrock Rovers kick off away to Drogheda looking to extend their lead to eight points at the top of the table as the Premier Division end game approaches.
‘We’ve got to keep chasing, no matter what. We can’t control Shamrock Rovers but we can control ourselves,’ said McEleney.
Taking control of Treaty is today’s priority.