City of Derry look to secure fourth place in final home game

City of Derry vs. Enniskillen   |   Judges Road    |   Saturday, 2:30pm

With the Junior Cup final still over three weeks away, City of Derry can return their focus to league matters, and securing fourth place with just two games remaining.

Last week’s victory over Cooke saw Derry secure their place in the club’s first Junior Cup final since 2010, and they will now meet either Dromore or Ballyclare in Kingspan Stadium on March 30 as a result.

In the meantime, the recent league defeat to Cooke cost Derry third place, and as frustrating as that was, Richard McCarter now doesn’t want to lose fourth place with a poor league finish. This week’s game against Enniskillen is the final league game of the season at Judges Road, but it could hardly be a more difficult ask, with the visitors in desperate need of the win to boost their promotion chances.

“I think it's definitely bigger for Enniskillen than us, Derry’s Head Coach acknowledged. “We've got a job to do in the league. We've got to consolidate top four and that means getting points out of the last two games. Enniskillen are going to try and win the league and potentially get into the All-Ireland league.

"Realistically, they have ourselves this week and Ballyclare next week, so it's two cup finals for them. It's two huge weeks for them, although it is bigger for them than it is us.”

There can be no easing off with the cup final on the horizon, with McCarter desperate for the points to keep his team in the top four.

“No, that is the difficulty of the league because we can't afford to take the foot off the gas,” he explained. “We still have a job to do and we still have two matches to go. I have to say, we need to get something out of the two matches to guarantee ourselves top four, which is one of our goals, but at the same time, the cup final is now our priority and we want to try and get through the next few weeks without any more injuries.

"With our fair share over the last couple of months, I can do without any more.”

McCarter believes that just one more win would do it, with Enniskillen at home followed by a trip to Ballymoney on the final day of the league season.

“I think one win would do it, but I would need to double check the league table to be honest with you,” he said. “I'm pretty sure if we get four points out of the last two matches, we can't be caught with the way the other fixtures fall. As I say, we need to do something in the next few weeks.”

Derry have mostly been right in the mix in games against the top two of Ballyclare and Enniskillen this season, but have failed to get a win against either. A heavy defeat to the former aside a few weeks ago, which was down to severe injury problems in the camp, McCarter believes his team have shown their capabilities against the top two and is hoping for more of the same come Saturday.

Enniskillen return to Judges Road this weekend hoping for a win which would keep their promotion dreams alive.

“We have competed well this year and we had our reasons for being completely stuffed by Ballyclare a few weeks ago with loads and loads of injuries,” he continued.

“That was a totally different side that's competed all season. We know this is a tough one on Saturday, but Enniskillen are a good side, they have momentum and confidence behind them, I know they have that real carrot at the end of the stick for going to the league, but if we had a full deck, I would really fancy ourselves, but we just have to get stuck into them, try and get them on the back foot and see what we can get out of it.”