Lynch expecting tough trip for Derry in Tallaght
The Belfast man continues to see improvement in his squad as the weeks continue
Shamrock Rovers v Derry City | Tallaght Stadium, Friday 8.00pm
Derry City manager Tiernan Lynch wants his players to embrace Friday night’s challenge at Shamrock Rovers.
The Brandywell men have had somewhat in-different form at Tallaght Stadium, as they’ve had one victory, one draw and two defeats in their last four encounters and Lynch is expecting another tough test on Friday evening.
“We’re under no illusions it’s going to be difficult, but we have to embrace this challenge,” he insisted.
“The boys have worked really, really hard, albeit there was no game, they did get a couple of days off after Sligo, but once they were straight back in again and they’ve had a lot of good work on the grass and a lot of good work off the grass and now we’re all really looking forward to it.”
The Belfast man feels the quality both on and off the pitch has been impressive and he continues to see improvement in his squad as the weeks continue.
“I think there’s great quality in the league both from a players perspective to a manager’s perspective and I feel the atmosphere in all the games have been excellent and they’ve been really, really enjoyable, albeit we’ve not got the results we’ve wanted,” he explained.
“We’re probably expecting the same thing on Friday night, we’re not going to make too big of a deal out of it. We want to give them the respect they deserve, but also we have got to concentrate on ourselves and the things that we’re good at.
“As I keep saying there’s lots of really good players in our changing room and we’re still finding our feet, but every day you’re noticing more and more coming to the fore and hopefully that will show come Friday night.”
Unfortunately for Lynch in his last contest against Stephen Bradley’s side came in November when the Dubliners ran riot at WIndsor Park to easily see off Larne in the Europa Conference League but Lynch accepts he got things wrong that night and believes the Candy Stripes are a different animal.
“I actually tried to forget about that game and I still have nightmares about it,” he joked. “To be honest I think that game if truth be told I got it wrong.
“Where we were at that stage, we probably should have approached that game very differently and I take full responsibility for that, but I think Derry City is a different animal and I do definitely feel this team will be pleased God better equipped.
“The majority of the boys in this changing room know what they’re getting going to Tallaght, we knew absolutely nothing going into the previous game and as I said taking nothing away from them, Rovers are a top side, top manager and their record speaks for itself and we’re under absolutely no illusions it’s going to be a really difficult game. However in saying that we’re going to this game to talk about our strengths and the areas that we feel we can impose our game on Rovers and hopefully that shines through.”
CIty are expected to welcome back centre-back Kevin Holt from injury, while midfielder Carl Winchester also returns from suspension, but Sadou Diallo and Pat Hoban will miss the trip to Tallaght.
“Kevin has obviously been back and he has been training,” conceded the Derry boss. “Pat is actually off at the minute with an illness, so I don’t envision Pat making it, to be honest.
"We've Carl back and he's a big personality in the changing room, which we are starting to see throughout the group, a lot of players are really starting to step up."