Derry striker Duffy hoping to turn back time

Michael Duffy will aim to reset the clock tomorrow night as he aims to score in three Derry City games in succession for the first time in 11 years.

The forward has enjoyed a superb start to the season, scoring in both games against Shelbourne and Bohemians, already eating into his return of five league goals in total from last season.

He was just turning 20-years-old the last time he went three in-a-row, scoring against Shakhtyor Soligorsk, UCD and Bohemians in what proved to be his highest goal-scoring season for the club in which he hit 16 goals in all competitions to catch the eye of Scottish against Celtic ahead of his move to Parkhead.

After a relatively meagre return last year by his standards, Duffy knows that manager Tiernan Lynch is expecting more, but he is also asking more of himself as well.

“I know myself that I need to be a big player,” he stated. “I want to come in with goals and assists very week and if I don’t do that, I’ll not be happy and that’s what I’ll be trying to do all year. That’s two in two and hopefully I can keep it up because I want to score every week.”

Duffy’s winner last week added to his collection of wonder goals in his career, and it was no surprise it came against Bohemians, with the 30-year-old hitting 15 goals against Bohs overall for Derry City and Dundalk.

“Everyone just has that team that they always score against, and it seems that Bohs is my one. I always seem to score against them and hopefully I can keep that up every time we play them, but I’m just delighted we got the win, which was the main thing.

I knew the wind was strong there when I was hitting the free kick so I just had to get it up over the wall and hoped it would go in and I’m delighted it did.”

Duffy’s goal earned Lynch his first win as City manager and also got the team off and running for the season after a dismal showing at Tolka Park on the opening day of the season.

“Shelbourne was disappointing, but we move on,” he insisted. “It was one week in, and we always knew we were going to get better. We showed against Bohs, that’s the way we want to play, getting after teams, playing with intensity and not letting teams breathe and I think we did that for a large period of the game, and we were delighted to get the three points.

“I thought the defence was unbelievable; Sam and Mark were brilliant, they won every duel, and their tackles on the edge of the box. The defence took a lot of flack after Shelbourne, but they were all brilliant so to turn it around like that was great. We knew we were always going to get better, and we would bounce back and hopefully that’s us now on a good run.”

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A win over Waterford at the Brandywell tomorrow night would leave the Candystripes in good stead ahead of a trip to St. Patrick’s Athletic on Monday night and Duffy knows the importance of momentum in a league which proved wildly unpredictable last year.

GREAT START… Michael Duffy scored the winner against Bohemians at the Brandywell last week. (Photo: Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile)

“I think there will be a lot of points dropped by everyone this year. There are a lot of good teams, it’s going to be a very tough league, so every three points is massive, and we have another home game now, so it’ll be a good advantage for us.”

Derry City enjoyed a 100% record against Waterford last year, not just winning all four league games against the Blues, but doing so without conceding a single goal. Keith Long’s side will be desperate to change that tomorrow.

“They will have point to prove against us big time,” Duffy agreed. “We had a really good record against them last year, but we’ll just focus on ourselves the whole week. We’re gradually working on things and gradually trying to get better, so we’ll just take the positives and try to get better again and look for the three points.”