Candystripes' boss braced for tough game against Leesiders

Derry City welcome Cork City to the Brandywell with both sets of supporters recalling thrilling encounters between the two provincial giants in recent years.

Ex-Candystripes defender Tommy Dunne will take his Cork City outfit to Derry with their confidence boosted by picking up their first point of the new campaign last week while the home side bounced back from a loss to Shelbourne by dumping Linfield out of the Setanta Sports Cup.

Derry will have to plan for this game without Rory Patterson who will be suspended and Shane McEleney has still not trained since he picked up a bug last week and is a doubt.

Cork’s Shane Duggan continues to miss out through suspension while Stephen Mulcahy, Kevin Murray and Neal Horgan all remain sidelined with knee injuries.

Daryl Horgan (thigh strain) and Jamie Murphy (hamstring) are doubts.

Derry City boss Declan Devine is expecting a difficult game.

Devine said: "I felt Cork were very unlucky not to come away with a win last week against Shamrock Rovers and I fully expect them to bring that momentum to the Brandywell.

"Having said that if we play with the fluidity that we displayed in the second half on Tuesday we should secure all three points."

Cork City boss Tommy Dunne said: "Derry is always a tough place to go, but we’ve had a reasonably good record up there in the last couple of years.

"I watched their game against Linfield the other night and you could see that they are a strong team; they are physically strong, they’re quick and they have good creativity in the side as well."