'A lot of people wrote us off': Mark Connolly backs Derry's FAI Cup redemption bid
Mark Connolly: 'My personal goal of this week is to enjoy every moment and I’m not just saying that. After how tough this year has been, let’s just enjoy this.' Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Derry City are revelling in being ‘written off’ in Sunday’s FAI Cup final, according to caretaker manager Mark Connolly.
All the pre-season hype of James McClean spearheading a title hunt disintegrated over a disastrous campaign but the Candystripes can salvage success at Lansdowne Road on Sunday.
Connolly left the club at the end of last season, winning an Irish Cup with Coleraine, only to be prised back in June by billionaire owner Philip O’Doherty into a role of sporting director.
He was soon deployed into a different role as first-team boss when Tiernan Lynch’s 18-month reign ended in the sack in August.
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Despite their bulging budget and squad of high earners, Derry could only rescue a fifth-place finish in the league.
Waterford lay in wait at the national stadium for the biggest day of the domestic year.
Graham Coughlan’s side will attempt to deny Derry their seventh FAI Cup triumph, and fourth over the 20-year stretch that the Blues have failed to hoist the trophy.
“A lot of people wrote us off,” declared Connolly on Tuesday, adopting a siege mentality, early in final week.
“All the pundits are talking about Waterford winning this Sunday.
“The majority of pundits and people that know the game backed Galway United to beat us in the semi-final.
“That’s on the outside but I believe we can beat any team when we’re on it.
“My personal goal of this week is to enjoy every moment and I’m not just saying that. After how tough this year has been, let’s just enjoy this.”
Connolly, only 34 himself, rotated his squad over the final couple of league games to ensure star men Michael Duffy and Adam O’Reilly are free of niggles.
On the vast Dublin 4 surface, a repeat of the free-flowing display that pulverised Shelbourne 4-0 in the 2022 final would spell danger for Waterford.
Coughlan’s miraculous feat of lifting the Blues off the bottom to safety, plus reaching this final, is built on a direct style using the strengths of their set-piece specialists.
“Hopefully the pitch is an advantage,” noted Connolly. “It should do when we’ve got Michael Duffy, Darragh Burns, Kevin Dos Santos, and all these wingers.
“Graham has been a breath of fresh air since coming into the league and Sunday will be a ding-dong battle.
“We knew how difficult Galway would be in the semi. John Caulfield had set them up tough to play against but our boys dealt with their threats.
“I’m hoping Sunday is a good football match, a spectacle on the biggest day in the League of Ireland calendar.”
Connolly was in the Derry team that lost on their last trip to the final. Drogheda United, like Waterford, were underdogs but scalped the Candystripes 2-0 to lift their second-ever Blue Riband.
Duffy has dismissed that memory as relevant to this return.
“This form and mood around the club is completely different from this time two years ago,” says the contender for player of the year.
“We went for the league that year and lost it with three games to go. There were a lot of players leaving, coming out of contract and there was talk about manager Ruaidhrí Higgins not being there. Those few weeks leading up to the final were tough.
“I don’t know if all that played a factor but we just weren’t at it on the day.
“We’ve been through a difficult time but that’s swung. There’s a great buzz around the town between fans and players.”
He added: “The club is on the way up. There’s been changes since the summer, a lot of plans and there's exciting times ahead. That rubs off on players.
“We want to win trophies and there’s only two available. We were disappointing in the league this season but came together as a group. If you want to be successful, we need to win trophies.”
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