Ruaidhri Higgins says he is delighted with his side’s progress this season as the Candystripes head to Tallaght on Sunday evening for their penultimate league game of the campaign.
City’s first piece of business in D24 will be to form a guard of honour for Stephen Bradley’s side- something the Derry manager insists is the right thing to do.
“They’re champions again and deservedly so. They’ve been the most consistent team in the league this season and we will afford them the respect that deserves.”
“It’s obviously not something we’ll take any pleasure from but we want to go down there and do the right thing, but also to then put in a big performance and try to win the game.”
“There’s been very little between us on the head-to-heads this season-one win each plus a draw in the league as well as our win in the cup.”
“No doubt there’ll be a party atmosphere at Tallaght on Sunday so it’s up to us to try and put that out of our minds and go about our business. We’ll just focus on our own performance and try to get three points.”
On the team front, Higgins also suggested that he will look to manage his players’ game time where necessary in the last couple of fixtures.
“The league has gone and to be honest, the cup final is now our priority for this season.
“On the team front we’re all good, apart from a few niggles that usually happen at this time of the year.
‘We’ll manage it so that players who might need some game time will get it, but also that everyone is fresh for the final as well ‘
The Candystripes still mathematically need a point to secure second place in the table- making it the first time in 16 years they’ll have finished in the top two.
Action gets underway on Sunday at 7pm.
