Ruaidhri Higgins to take a step back for family matters this week
Ruaidhri Higgins will take a step back from his role as Derry City manager this week as he and his family finalise funeral arrangements for his brother Kevin.
The Derry City manager will be in the dug-out at Tallaght this coming Friday for the highly-anticipated game against champions Shamrock Rovers, but the match preparation will be handled by Alan Reynolds and Conor Loughrey as Higgins and his family travel to Sweden.
Kevin, older brother of Ruaidhri, died suddenly at his home in Sweden on February 3, and the final funeral arrangements will now take place towards the end of the week.
Higgins has since gone about his role as Derry City boss, and has watched his team make a promising start to the new league campaign, with four points from two games.
Friday past saw the Candystripes beat Cork City 2-0 thanks to goals from Patrick McEleney and Jordan McEneff, and Higgins was pleased with the manner of the way his team completed their task.
“For the majority of the game we had good control and we played some nice stuff at times,” he said. “There is no doubt that the goals came at really good times as well. They were a couple of moments of real quality and I think over the course of the game, we deserved the win.
“Patience was key because they sat in with a low block and minimized spaces and it was either going to be a moment of brilliance or a mistake, but we have quality all through the pitch so it was no surprise to me that one of our really talented players (in Patrick) came and produced when we needed him to.”
McEleney’s goal was his first goal in almost a year and his first at the Brandywell in red and white in over seven years. Higgins is now hoping his captain can get amongst the goals more frequently going forward.
“I have played him deeper, but with that quality and that shooting ability off both feet, he would be the first to admit he would like to score more goals,” he continued. “That’s what the best players do when you need them the most is pop up with a bit of brilliance and that’s what he did.
“It’s Patrick’s first start of the season and he’s scored and with the real talent he has I would like to see maybe a wee but more of that from him. Over the years he has scored some unbelievable goals and for me, he is one of the best players that this league has seen in the last 20 or 30 years.”
Last year Derry City dropped 23 points at home, and Higgins knows the importance of finding a way though teams who come to the Brandywell to defend in numbers.
“We’re going to get better there’s no doubt about that,” he said. “We’re going to come up against this a lot – teams coming and playing deep and trying to catch us, but I think we have got loads of attacking options which can unbalance deep defences.
“We have people wo can dribble and people who can shoot from distance so we have good variety in our squad and that’s good learning for us when a team comes and sits; we can look back on where we got joy and where we didn’t get joy so we’ll watch it and analyse it and assess it and pick the good and bad out of it and try and get better from it.”
Anticipation
Derry City will meet the champions at Tallaght this Friday night in what is always an exciting fixture, and with Rovers without three key players due to three red cards in the opening fortnight of the new season, it could well be a good time to play them.
“We have a few out as well, but that’s the way it is,” Higgins cautioned. “I’m sure there will be two good teams on the pitch. It will be exciting and I’m looking forward to it. Our players will be more than ready and chomping at the bit to go down and try and get a huge win.
“The fact that it’s their first home game will be more beneficial to them. We got Pat’s in their first home game and then we get Rovers in their first home game, the old magic computer. It’s interesting but we’ll go down there and have a right rattle at them and see where we go.”