Derry City refocus on FAI Cup

The Candystripes are back on the road again on Saturday as they head to Drogheda for an Extra.ie second round cup tie, hoping to make up for their disappointing Europa League exit to Riteria on Tuesday night.
The Vilnius trip is one Derry will want to forget very quickly as the defeat was compounded by a broken nose for Conor Clifford and a freak accident involving manager, Declan Devine.
The City boss tripped over an open drain on the way into the National Stadium for Tuesday’s tie and returned home on crutches with a badly swollen knee. He was having tests on the injury this afternoon in the hope that the damage isn’t too serious.
Despite the setback, Devine was focused on what is now a crucial game at United Park this weekend.
“We have to put Tuesday behind us and move on” he began. “It was a missed opportunity for sure but we go again on Saturday against a very good Drogheda side.”
“We badly missed Walter Figueira and Jack Malone in midweek but both lads had felt their hamstrings in training and we can’t take any chances with those. If they had played and aggravated the injury we could have lost them for most of the rest of the season. It’s far too big of a risk”
Ally Gilchrist remains on the sidelines for Derry while Clifford was feeling the effects of that clash of heads so will be monitored by the club’s medical staff over the coming days.
“I’m confident Walter and Jack will both be available for Saturday and of course Cameron McJanet comes into the equation having sat out his quarantine” added the manager.
“Paddy McCourt and I went to watch Drogheda recently ahead of this tie and we were very impressed with them. They have players who are Premier Division standard and we will have to work very hard to make it through to the next round.”
The game will be shown live on the Watchloi.ie live streaming service with a 5pm kick-off.