Bad news continues for Derry City with Conor McDermott set to miss six weeks with a broken thumb

Bad news continues to plague Derry City with Conor McDermott now expected to miss the next SIX WEEKS due to a broken thumb.

The defender picked up the injury in the first half of Friday night’s game at Turner’s Cross but played on regardless and completed the 90 minutes. However, tests over the weekend have revealed that McDermott has suffered a break and will now be unavailable for the foreseeable future, with early indications that the 19-year-old could miss up to six weeks.

It is yet another huge blow for manager Kenny Shiels who is still coming to terms with the loss of Rory Patterson with a broken ankle and Barry McNamee with a hamstring injury.

All three players will now miss the Finn harps game this weekend in which City will attempt to get back to winning ways after two consecutive defeats.

Having had a few days to reflect on the Cork defeat,, Shiels admitted that his players were deservedly beaten.

“One of the things I asked the players to do was to manage the environment first and foremost and we didn’t do that,” he acknowledged. “We sat off them too much. From that aspect I was disappointed because we had to go there with more assertiveness and purpose and we didn’t do that. We showed nerves in the first two minutes. I’ve tried to eliminate that, to ensure they are not afraid. But the ball was like a hot potato. I was really disappointed in the performance overall to be fair, even though we lost the spine of the team.

“I want the players to be confident and to always want to receive the ball and to try and play and we didn’t do that. We lost the midfield battle also. We only started to play in the last 20 minutes when they came off the play because they were 3-0 up. I don’t take any comfort from that because they just let us have the ball a little bit more. We have to commit to what we’re good at and the players didn’t to that. We sort of replicated their game and we isolated our front three which disappointed me.”

With the sad passing of Ryan McBride still keenly felt at the club, City are in a position now where they have lost several leaders in the team, and Shiels admits that his young players now have to carry a heavy burden on their shoulders.

He explained: “They talk about the five young boys at United and Alan Hansen eating his words about not winning thigs with kids. But Alan Hansen was right because they had Steve Bruce and Pallister and experience along with youth. They had a blend. We have our goalkeeper and a bunch of kids. I need experience to help je grow this at the club and I’m on the look-out for an experienced player but I can’t get them. We can only sign players who are out of contract but at this stage they won’t be match fit if we can get them, which we can’t. I have a couple earmarked for the summer. But we should be positive and see what we can come up with from within because there are some good players here.”