Derry City expand stadium capacity for Cork City clash

INCREASED CAPACITY: Derry City will have an expanded capacity of over 4,000 for Friday’s visit of Cork City to the Ryan McBride Brandywell. Pic: ©INPHO/Lorcan Doherty

Derry City will have an expanded capacity of over 4,000 for Friday’s visit of Cork City to the Ryan McBride Brandywell.

Completion of the north stand facilitates an initial addition of 850 tickets, with capacity incrementally rising to 6,300 as they simultaneously seek £11.8m from the NI Football Fund for extra upgrades.

On the pitch, albeit an artificial one, both teams come into the fixture on the back of draws last Friday.

Tim Clancy declared Cork's performance against Drogheda United as the worst of their six games since promotion despite drawing 1-1 against the side who’d arrived at Turner’s Cross top of the table.

The long trip to the North-west is the last before the Rebels confront a blitz of five games over 15 days, starting with Stephen Kenny’s new league leaders St Patrick’s Athletic next Friday.

“Cork are a solid team that is chopping formation between a back four and five,” observed Derry boss Tiernan Lynch.

“They’re dangerous on the counterattack, a team that stays in games and is hard to shake off. They’ve got good players and goals in their team.

“However, we’ll concentrate on what we can do. We’re starting to see the likes of Liam Boyce coming good and hopefully Gavin Whyte will play a part.

“I was happy with the commitment and effort from players but now we’ve to start seeing the talent and the free-flowing football we can play. We want to get the fans off their seats and have a team they can be proud of."

Shelbourne visit a St Pat’s side occupying the top position they finished last season in for a sold-out Dublin derby.

Four wins from five has edged Galway United by goal difference in the early battle for the lead position.

"This is a derby with an edge to it that traditionally goes back many years and certainly now,” said Kenny, who will rely on teenager Mason Melia to lead the line after losing the league’s top scorer Aidan Keena to a hamstring injury.

“I had two experiences of this fixture after coming in last year and it will be a brilliant atmosphere because people in the club are inundated with ticket requests.” 

Damien Duff’s Reds regained their winning mojo in Sligo last week and the Ireland legend chose to place the spotlight on one of his understated heroes.

“If you ask me who’s the most underappreciated player, not just in this run, but in general when people talk about us or even about us winning the league, it’s John Martin,” Duff said of the Waterford-born striker.

“Believe me, within our dressing room, John is one of the most appreciated and people need to know that what a massive player he is for us.

“His work rate, his intelligence, what he does off the ball, is huge. He drives standards every single day. People outside the club, maybe even some fans inside the club, don’t realise what he brings but we don’t take that for granted.” Martin and his colleagues have been prepped for what has tended to be a goal-fest fixture.

“I always compare these games to being in camp with the Irish team because I could feel the tension, the focus, the level of concentration in the group,” noted Duff.

“That same atmosphere comes around when it’s a Dublin Derby. You don’t need to add any extra motivation. It should be there naturally. The lads know what it means. They’re ready. And they’ll be prepared.” Dalymount Park hosts the basement battle between Bohemians and Sligo Rovers but it’s the home manager under the most pressure.

Alan Reynolds pleaded for patience, especially with transfer windows, to be judged but just under a year since his arrival the Gypsies faithful are losing theirs.

Five defeats in their opening seven matches is a record prolonging last year’s misery and they badly require a result against a Sligo team also scrambling for points.

Reynolds said: “The players and all of us on the management team obviously hear the frustrations but we don’t need to hear them because we have the same frustrations ourselves.

“But we believe in ourselves. The players are frustrated with the mistakes that have cost us this season but everything I have seen tells me that we are all in this together. We have a strong and united group who are determined to put things right.” His counterpart John Russell also pointed to eradicating game-changing moments. Their bid for a first win in five is hampered by suspensions to Jad Hakiki, John Mahon, Jake Doyle-Hayes and striker Cian Kavanagh.

"We just need to cut out the individual errors like last week against Shelbourne and the results will come,” reasoned the Sligo boss.

"We've been urging the players to keep doing the right things and, even though we’re down bodies, it’s a great opportunity for others to step up and show their quality."