LAST OCTOBER, AS their title challenge was all but extinguished by a scoreless draw away to Drogheda on a Friday night, Derry City manager Ruaidhrí Higgins took the unusual step of turning up the pressure on himself for the following year.
“We have come a long way in a few years but the next step is to become winners. It looks unlikely that it’s going to be this year but I do believe we will get there,” the Limavady man said.
Setting yourself targets like that is a double-edged sword. But those who manage Derry City like a little danger. At just 39 years old, Higgins is one of the new wave of managers across the League of Ireland determined to blow away a lot of the waffle.
It’s not always easy. On Friday night they managed a scoreless draw away to Galway.
Tonight, they are the latest instalment of the travelling ‘Damien Duff’s Shelbourne Revue: Where All Your Entertainment Needs Are Met.’
As colourful and bizarre as Duffer himself has proved over the last few weeks in particular, it masks a certain slippage.
The win over St Pat’s, followed by the somewhat gimmicky act of bringing in a fan to deliver the post-match talk in the huddle came at the back of their only two losses in the league to Bohemians and Galway United.
Then there was the draw at home to Shamrock Rovers that brought a red card from Shane Farrell and some scorching criticism from Duff.
They themselves found a little of the humdrum with their own scoreless draw away to Dundalk on Friday.
With Shamrock Rovers having a 1-1 draw against Bohemians it keeps the table stagnant; Shels top with 26 points, Rovers on 24, Derry on 23.
To Derry City fans, this is the bottom line requirement given the investment by Chairman, Philip O’Doherty.
Some of that is physical, with the early stages of work on a new stand behind the Celtic Park end goals. Some of it is in expertise, in spending €30,000 to prise Pat Hoban from Dundalk for example.
Stephen Kenny doesn’t agree to many interviews nowadays, but he readily agreed to give one to speak about his former player, who then went on to work in his Dundalk and Ireland backroom teams.
“Ruaidhrí is still in the infancy of his coaching career. Obviously, they are an ambitious club, they have a strong fanbase and it’s a passionate city,” says Kenny.
“Nothing is always straightforward in management. You have a concept of how you are going to play at the start of the season and where you are going to play players.
“Injuries sometimes dictate players to be played and formation to be tried.
“They are still in a good position. Shamrock Rovers are a formidable squad, they have added to their squad this year again and the strong favourites Shelbourne are having a good season. Bohemians and Derry are still up there and some of their players haven’t played this season and have to come back in. So they will get stronger.”
Some managers are just drawn to a certain type of player. When Kenny was at Derry, he recognised that there were certain things that prevented Higgins from establishing himself in his four years at Coventry City. But he had his charms too.
One of the great nights that Derry City had was the Sean Hargan winner when he nodded in to beat Gothenburg in the 2006 UEFA Cup, prompting their European run that came to an end against Paris St Germain.
It was Higgins that provided the corner to Hargan. His asthma meant there were certain games he wouldn’t be favoured. He didn’t like it, but he didn’t stink the place out, either.
“He was just a very good team mate. He liked to play in midfield and he liked to be the anchor in midfield too. He could stretch the play left and right, dictate the play,” recalls Kenny.
“Very creative. Great vision, the ability to hit a longer pass, a lot of midfield players couldn’t play those but Ruaidhrí could, switching the play by a 40 or 50 yard pass. He had great accuracy.
“I suppose a playmaker, in a position that is becoming less and less. He was in that mould though; a creative player, and it wasn’t straightforward for him because he is heavily asthmatic.
“So the physical side of it, he had to contend with the asthma. But the technical side of it, he was very good.”
An opposing midfielder who came up against him a few times noted that Higgins had huge time for every player he played against and would instantly launch into discussions around the game just played.
“Very accomplished midfielder,” he recalls.
“Composed, technically very gifted. Wasn’t blessed with pace but had a great footballing IQ. Could manage games, dictate passing, controlling of the ball.
“He wasn’t the most mobile so I would have been content enough in getting to him, but at the same time he would have released the ball very quickly.”
As a measure of his faith in Higgins, Kenny took him to Dundalk and, while in the twilight of his career, still was an integral part of their league winning side of 2014.
He finished his playing days with Coleraine, a dozen miles from his Limavady homeplace, seeing out his days under another impressive young manager in Oran Kearney.
Once he retired, Kenny was straight in to offer him a coaching role with Dundalk. He felt Higgins had the nerdish qualities to dissect opposition teams, so was handed that role too.
“He loved the game. One of those players,” says Kenny.
“Stephen McDonnell as well, when he was with Ruaidhrí in Dundalk, they would talk football 24/7. Football and all things around it.
“That’s not for everyone! Some people just want away from it. But they did and they were interested and passionate.”
From there, when Kenny got the Ireland job, he put another call through to Higgins. He would be a set of eyes based in England more often, travelling the motorways, scouting the Ireland players and making presentations around the upcoming opposition.
Nitty-gritty stuff. But one that leaves you welded to the car keys, train timetables and the laptop. Not much opportunity to get grass under your feet.
And so when Derry City came calling, his natural inclination was to go his own way.
It has not all been simple and he has had his trials.
In February 2023, his eldest brother Kevin died of a heart attack. He was 49 and had been living in Sweden with his partner and two children.
Over his life, Kevin had lived in various locations; Glasgow, the Isle of Skye and Oslo.
When living in London for a few years, he played Gaelic football as a goalkeeper with the Parnells club. Decades before it became normalised, Kevin Higgins would leave the square to play as an extra outfield player, supporting the ball carrier up to the halfway line and beyond. Week after week he would be screamed at to get back. He didn’t even hear it.
That’s the people that Ruaidhrí Higgins comes from.
Kenny describes him as passionate, that he sees the game in the way it should be played.
“He is a progressive thinker on the game, an innovative thinker, and these are important facets and traits in coaches as the game evolves.
“I think he’s proven to be an excellent appointment.”
It’s possible his ambitions will outgrow that of the Candy Stripes. Last July, he travelled to Yorkshire and had talks with Barnsley about their own vacant manager’s position.
The League One side opted for Neill Collins instead.
Among the crowd, there is contentment that they have a serious, proper manager. However, some feel that for a player that looked to play it forward every time he took the ball, his teams play a little safe.
He sets his teams up to be compact and in control. It’s in the nature of Derry City fans to want to see their team cut loose a little more and become more open.
But he has them in a good position, challenging for the league again. And he’s a Derry lad. On the Brandywell, that means plenty.
“Ruaidhrí is authentic,” adds Kenny.
“That’s an important quality in a coach. It’s sincerity. If you are honest and sincere with people, you get that back.”
