The game I loved so well

IN more ways than the merely geographical, it might seem like a long way from the Brandywell to Stamford Bridge but visits to Derry and west London in close succession last weekend underlined the pleasantly surprising extent to which football can shrink the world.

Derry was your correspondent’s first port of call for the top of the table clash against visitors Cork City. The homely Brandywell was buzzing, surpassed in its output of sustained energy only by the efforts of the Candystripes themselves who, right from the kick-off, set about their visitors as though their life in the league depended on it. Which, with the threat of Cork extending their lead at the top to nine points, it probably did.

And Derry’s massive effort got what it deserved - a 3-1 victory which closed the gap at the top of the table to just three points and erased any possibility that the championship might become a one-horse race.