Derry striker Boyce using red card as a turning point
Boyce finally found the net against Drogheda United at the Brandywell in early April
Cork City vs. Derry City | Turner’s Cross | Friday, 7:45pm
Liam Boyce admits his red card against Drogheda United last month gave him the ‘wee nudge’ he needed to get his Derry City career off and running.
There are inescapable parallels between Boyce’s and Derry City’s season so far, with the striker and the team struggling to settle in during the first set of games only to bounce back from unexpected lows strongly.
While the Candystripes even slipped to bottom of the Premier Division at one point after a poor start which brought three defeats in four games, Boyce went seven games without scoring until he finally found the net against Drogheda United at the Brandywell in early April. Even then, his joy was short-lived as he was then red-carded within 60 seconds.
Rather than let that moment hold him back, the striker has used it as motivation, and he has now produced his best football in red and white to date, scoring two further goals as the team has won four out of their last five league games to move to within one point of first place.
“I scored my first goal and I was buzzing, and then I made a stupid decision and we ended up getting beat,” he recalled. “You blame yourself for the defeat, but I just came back and tried to work harder than I did before.
“You don’t want to let your team mates down, especially when they’re working so hard. You want to score goals, and win games and create chances. That give me a wee nudge, because that cost us three points basically because we were winning 1-0 and I thought we were comfortable until then so it gave me an extra bit of motivation to come back and try and help the boys.”
Derry City head to Turner’s Cross tomorrow night hoping to make it three league wins in succession for the first time in a year, but with the defeat to Waterford still very much on the players’ minds, no-one is expecting an easy night against Cork City.
“It’s good to come back and win two in a row and if we ever think we’ve made it or we’re too good of a team, then we just need to think back to that and that will give us that wee nudge to keep putting in the work and keep working hard for each other,” Boyce said.
“Before the Shelbourne game, it was something like three points between the top six, it was so tight and whoever goes on a run will be at the top of the table, so we just need to concentrate on the next game and trying to won that and keep putting in the hard work and the performances we have been.”
Boyce has appeared in all but two of City’s 14 games so far, and he now believes he is in his best physical condition for a number of years as a result.
“We all worked hard pre-season, and I actually said to Tiernan, that after having a few injurie over the past few years, this is probably the best I’ve felt and the sharpest I’ve felt on the pitch, and like I could run all day,” he stated.
“He has asked us to give everything we have and if we’re tiring, because of the squad we have, someone else will come on and keep the standards at that height. It’s good for us, and we’re all feeling good and we’re reasting and recovering well and we have a big one again on Friday.”
Derry City could well climb to the top of the Premier Division with a third successive league win at Turner’s Cross, and Boyce is determined to play his part to ensure that the team don’t slip up like they did at the RSC just a few weeks ago.
“We know that we have to work hard for each other and we defend well and we fight for each other, we have players in the team who can hurt anybody, and as long as we keep focused on that, the games will look after themselves,” he said.
“I think it’s that battling for each other and that mentality going into games that has changed. I think we all thought after the Waterford game that that’s what we were lacking in that game, so it’s been a real emphasis on that and you can see in the last two games we’ve had two clean sheets against two really good teams, and that’s just testament to the fight that we have for each other.”