THE PUNCHLINE WAS obvious and Ruaidhrí Higgins knew it too.
You didn’t need Kevin Bridges to hold your hand through this one.
The Derry City manager just had to wait for the timing to be right as he sat alongside Will Patching earlier this week as they previewed tonight’s clash with champions Shamrock Rovers [Live RTÉ 2, 7.45pm].
Ahead of what will be the midfielder’s 100th appearance for the club, the 25-year-old was asked about his experiences at the Ryan McBride Brandywell up until this point and what more he hopes can be achieved after reaching the milestone.
“Yeah, it’s a proud moment,” he began, before the media training from his early days at Manchester City’s academy instantly made him check himself.
“Well, hopefully to make my 100th appearance,” Patching added, throwing a quick, almost apologetic glance to Higgins.
You just knew what was coming.
The manager was going to disappoint.
“Nah, you’re dropped.”
Even though the half a dozen or so journalists who had logged on to Zoom were on mute you could just hear that typical laugh of press conference appeasement through the screens.
Higgins was relaxed and Patching, too.
Yet even though Derry sit second in the Premier Division, just five points off leaders Shelbourne, they’ve won just four of their opening 10 games and are yet to manage back-to-back victories.
Already it has been a campaign of varying emotions; from the exhilaration of a 92nd-minute winner against St Patrick’s Athletic on 1 March to the despondency Higgins felt after what he described as an “unacceptable” performance in the 1-0 home defeat to Galway United later that month.
They cannot afford to continually swing between such feelings if they are to sustain any kind of title challenge.
Finding that happy medium of consistency is, so far, proving to be the most likely cause of another title at the Premier Division crown falling by the wayside.
“It’s been frustrating but there have been positives signs in the last couple of weeks,” Higgins said.
“We had a really good win here against Dundalk and played some good stuff and for an hour or so last week we played some really good stuff as well. Obviously you want maximum points from every game you go into but as I said before, everyone seems to be searching for that consistency and we’re no different. I’ve no doubt we will find it and hopefully it’s sooner rather than later.”
Derry have shown already under Higgins that they are capable of beating Rovers. They don’t need to do it here to prove something to themselves or to others, but rather more simply to keep the Hoops at bay and hopefully kick start some kind of run that makes you feel as if this Derry side are different to the ones of the last couple of seasons.
They should be.
Beating Rovers and putting on a performance won’t tell us anything about their credentials that we didn’t know already.
“Any successful team or any team that is going to do anything, you need figures in the dressing room who stand up and we have a few,” Higgins said.
“We lost back to back games against Bohemians and Galway but we responded and went down to Shelbourne and although we didn’t win the game, we reacted positively. We went and beat Dundalk and should have won last week,” he added, referencing the 2-2 draw away to Drogheda United in which they fell behind, then battled back to a 2-1 lead before conceding a late equaliser.
That, in a nutshell, has been Derry’s season so far.
“We have responded quite well. Would we like a few more points? Of course we would. But I have every confidence in the players in our dressing room that we can start to put more points on the board very soon,” Higgins added.
Last season feels of more relevance because the squad and starting XI are largely the same – Higgins opted to make two signings over winter with Daniel Kelly and Pat Hoban joining from Dundalk.
The latter made a blistering start to life at his new club with six goals in the opening five games but he has been unavailable due to a groin injury since coming off at half-time in the 0-0 draw with Shelbourne on Easter Monday.
“The squad we have now has been together for a while and we only added a couple of players this season, which I think is a positive for us,” Patching said.
“It’s only going to help us in times when it’s been difficult, knowing each other and knowing our capabilities of what we’ve been able to do on a pitch over the years.”
That trust among them will be important but if their season continues in such a topsy turvy fashion it will undoubtedly test the strength of those bonds.
