Derry upbeat ahead of cup tie despite limited preparation

Derry City are off to the Showgrounds to play Sligo Rovers this evening in the quarter finals of the FAI Cup.
The last eight tie will finally be played 25 days on from the orginal fixture date at the start of the month.
The match was postponed twice due to Covid-19 outbreaks at the Brandywells club.
Ally Gilchrist is the only absentee for Derry as Declan Devine has all his players to choose from after completing another quarantine period.
Preparations have been difficult for the Candystrips: “We had no training sessions at all before of our final couple of league matches but we hope to get some sort of work with the players ahead of Wednesday night.”
“It’s been one of those seasons and you can see how it has affected clubs everywhere. We still have a chance to compete for silverware though so it’s up to us to go to Sligo and try to win the game.”
“We have no new injury worries so everybody other than Ally Gilchrist is available. That’s not a luxury we’ve had very often in the past few months so it’s a chance for the players to show what they can do.”
A semi-final tie away at Shamrock Rovers awaits Wednesday night’s winners with plenty at stake for both sides.
Winning the trophy outright is Derry’s only route into European football next season, however courtesy of their fourth placed league finish, only a cup success for City or Athlone can prevent the Bit O’ Red from securing a place in the Europa League qualifiers.