BEFORE THE BATTLE the phoney war, with Derry City and Shamrock Rovers set to renew acquaintances in the slightly tentative, rheumatic way that is the manner of the season curtain-raiser.
Both sides meet in the President’s Cup final in Derry tonight, the clash a statement both of each side’s successes last season and also a prelude to the rivalry that will likely define the season ahead.
Rovers have won three league titles in a row and will now seek to echo their own history by putting four titles back-to-back, with FAI Cup winners Derry primed as the likeliest disruptor.
Derry don’t have too look far for the last side to spring to the league title from the launchpad of Cup success: Rovers first won the Cup in 2019 before breaking Dundalk’s stranglehold on the league.
These were the top two in the league last year, with Rovers’ 13-point winning margin a pretty fitting marker of the gap between both sides across the full season while belying the tension that crept into the run-in. With five games to go Rovers were five points clear of Derry, who technically needed only one Rovers slip given they were travelling to Tallaght for the league’s penultimate round. But ultimately Derry couldn’t stick the pace and consoled themselves with the FAI Cup, though they lost the league not in the run-in but in the middle of the season, where they followed a thumping win away to Pat’s with a seven-match winless run.
“There’s great motivation among the squad, we have achieved success but it’s all gone”, said Rovers captain Ronan Finn at the new season launch earlier this week. “Clean slate: everyone wants to beat Shamrock Rovers and that will be no different this year.
“When Shamrock Rovers come to town it’s the biggest crowd. It’s why it’s the best club to play for, and that’s motivation in and of itself. We have performed well the last few years but it’s great motivation.”
The result of the season’s preface has rarely augured for the year ahead, with only three President’s Cup winners since 2014 going on to win the league in the same year. Nor will tonight give us a true reflection of either side, with Rovers missing Ronan Finn, Gary O’Neill and Seans Hoare, Kavanagh, and Gannon. Derry will be without Cameron Dummigan while Patrick McEleney is a doubt. Manager Ruaidhrí Higgins may be back in the dugout however, following the tragic death of his brother.
What tonight offers is a first glimpse at the clubs’ respective new signings. Off-season evolution rather than revolution is the sign of a well-placed club and that’s been Rovers’ MO over the last few years. Three of their four senior arrivals are familiar faces: Trevor Clarke is back from England – a stint that featured a succession of cruel injuries and was crescendoed to bizarre comments from Joey Barton – while Liam Burt has arrived from Bohemians and, intriguingly, former Sligo striker Johnny Kenny has been signed on loan from Celtic. The outlier is midfielder Markus Poom, an Estonian international and son of former Derby County goalkeeper Mart, who has been signed on a loan deal from Flora Tallinn. All reports suggest he has impressed in pre-season. Rovers’ academy is purring too, and with so many senior players missing, we may catch a glimpse of the next of their gems to make a first-team step-up. (Irish U17 call-up Naj Razi is highly-rated, but occasional involvement by the end of the year is a fairer first-team expectation.)
Derry, meanwhile, have not been particularly busy in the transfer market either, with Adam O’Reilly – impressive on loan at St Pat’s last season – signing from Preston. They may yet add a couple more, with reports linking them with a loan deal for Irish U21 winger Ollie O’Neill, currently on the books at Fulham.
Their major signing of the off-season might have been lining up for Rovers tonight if history had taken a different course. Irish U21 striker Colm Whelan was eyed by Rovers and clubs abroad during his time at UCD, before his season was cut short by an ACL injury. Whelan has signed for Derry in the off-season, but is still a couple of months away from a debut.
Across the last decade, the rivalry of Cork and Dundalk begat that of Dundalk and Shamrock Rovers, which has now begotten Shamrock Rovers and Derry City. Tonight is the first act of what should be a season-long drama.
President’s Cup KO: 7.45pm; Live on LOITV
