Derry defender Boyce joining greats with Cork heroics
City have picked up eight points during their four games unbeaten run
Defender Ronan Boyce admitted scoring the first goal for the club in front of the North Stand was a brilliant feeling.
The 23-year-old turned Liam Boyce's header home against Cork City to spark wild celebrations at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium.
It was not the first time that Boyce has hit a spectacular goal against Cork, having scored the winning goal at Turner's Cross back in 2023. He has now hit three goals against Cork City in his career, joining the likes of club greats Alex Krstic, Sean Hargan and Mark Farren.
“It was brilliant scoring in front of the new stand, my family were up in the new stand and I could see them, so it was brilliant to score in front of them,” he added.
“Obviously the first goal got us back in the game, but to go on and win the game was even better.
“Listen, we weren’t at our level in the first half, but we still could have gone in 3-1 up, as we had clear cut chances, but look we started to play better in the second half and thankfully we got the win.
“In the second half we started to implement our game plan and thankfully we got the two goals to get us the three points.”
Boyce is also already looking forward to this Friday evening's home clash with FAI Cup holders Drogheda United.
Kevin Doherty's side have started the second superbly and currently sit at the top of the table, so the Letterkenny man knows it's going to be a tough test.
“Drogheda coming here is going to be tough for us,” he conceded.
“We all know the battles we’ve had against them over the years, it has never been easy, we’re expecting another tough game.
“I know for sure we’ll be looking to have a better start than we did against Cork and we’ll make sure that we come out a lot better and hopefully we can get three points again.
“We know that if we can get an early goal and get the fans going, that will be brilliant for us. To be fair, I thought the fans were brilliant in the Cork game, they stuck by us when we weren’t playing great, so credit to them.
“But look if you get an early goal and you get the place rocking, then the Brandywell is a special place to play whenever it is rocking.”
City have picked up eight points during their four games unbeaten run, sitting just four points behind leaders Drogheda and Boyce feels maintaining their current form is going to be crucial this campaign.
“It’s a tough league, with everyone capable of beating everyone, so if we can stay steady then hopefully we’ll continue to climb up the table,” he explained.
“Shelbourne last year won the league because probably with how they performed at the start of the season, I think they won six games in a row, so look if you can stay steady enough and not have any big dips in form, then you never know.
“We need to keep picking up wins at the Brandywell; we have to make this place a fortress and if we do that then I don’t think we’ll be that far away.
“To be honest I feel like last year the league is going to be similar or maybe even closer this season. We know that we can’t take anything for granted and if you aren’t on it, then you’re in trouble.
“We weren’t on it in the first half against Cork and we got punished for that trailing 1-0 at the break, but we know ourselves if you don’t reach your levels then you’ll not get anything in this league.”