Ben Doherty says Derry players determined to make top three after European disappointment

By Gary Ferry

Ben Doherty has admitted that the recent taste of Europa League football has left the Derry City players hungry for more and has made them determined to make the top three again this season.

Doherty played another starring role as Derry put four past Sligo Rovers without reply yesterday, a result which closes the gap on Shamrock Rovers to just two points having played a game less.

The result, plus the performance, on the back of City’s highest ever defeat in Europe, was according to Doherty, the perfect response at the end of a busy fortnight at the club.

“Coming off the back of two big European matches, it was a big test for us,” he agreed. “We just wanted to take some of what we learned in Europe and the experience and bring it into this game and get a win. We played very well, albeit against an average team, but our class showed on the day.

It could have been more than 4-0. We had something like 20 shots to their one. We could have been more clinical as well but on another day we wouldn’t score any, which is just our luck this season, so it’s good that the four went in.”

The 20-year old has been one of the good news stories at the club this season, winning the trust of manager Kenny Shiels to an extent that he played both games against FC Midtjylland, a significantly higher level of football for someone so inexperienced in senior football. But Doherty was not complaining.

He said: “To play the two European games was a massive achievement for myself personally. I was delighted to play the two games and in my own opinion I thought I played well. The result didn’t go our way obviously but we were playing against a high-class opponent that have played against even higher-classed teams in Europe in recent years, and held their own. I thought we played well and it gives us a lot of hope for the next few years.

“We have a taste of it now so we just want to go on and get that again. After the game on Thursday, in the changing rooms, we were just saying we had enjoyed it but that we wanted to go on and do it again for next year so hopefully we can get into Europe, that’s what we’re aiming for now, to get into the top three.”

The Candy Stripes face a trip to Inchicore this weekend hoping to secure back to back victories for the first time since March. A lot of football has been played since Derry defeated Dundalk and Drogheda United at the start of the season but successive victories have escaped Derry since But after watching his team mates dominate Sligo, Doherty feels something significant can happen in the second half of the season, beginning at St. Pat’s this weekend.

“Pat’s are on a bad run but they will be buzzing to play against us because they will be thinking, as Sligo did today, that we are a wounded animal after the heavy defeat in Europe,” he said. “But the players are all raring to go and ready to bounce back and I don’t think we will be slipping up any time soon. We just want to keep going and keep performing, especially the way we did today. If we carry that on, and we cut