Ruaidhri Higgins: 'Adam O'Reilly is an exceptional player'

Derry City manager Ruaidhri Higgins lamented the amount of set pieces his side conceded late on in their 1-1 draw with St Patrick’s Athletic on Friday night.

A sublime individual effort from Jordan McEneff had given Derry a first half lead at Richmond Park, but they were undone two minutes from time as a flurry of corners paid off for Pat’s as Joe Redmond turned home to secure a share of the spoils.

Higgins was content with the point overall but feels his charges got punished for conceding too many free kicks and corners as the clock ticked towards the 90.

“I thought the players fought well and we weren’t at our best by any stretch of the imagination,” said Higgins. “First half we had the three best chances, second half we gave away too many set plays in dangerous areas and eventually they caught us out.

“We gave away too many free kicks and corners and to be fair when we did do that we stood up 95% of the time and defended our box really well but just got caught on that one.

“We’ve had a few chances, Jordan gets a great goal, Ollie had one cleared off the line. We would have liked to have been a couple up but not to be.  

“This is an extremely difficult venue they’re a good side and it shows where we are when we have bodies missing and are disappointed to leave with a point.

“All things considered when you’re 1-0 up going into the last few minutes it’s bitterly disappointing not go come away with three points but a point is no disaster.”

The Candystripes made the long trip down the M2 without Sadou Diallo and Cameron Dummigan while Patrick McEleney played a supporting role from the bench.

Higgins was dealt another injury headache when key man Michael Duffy pulled up in the warm up meaning Fulham loanee Ollie O’Neill was thrown in from the off for his debut.

Cameron McJannet was withdrawn in the first half.

“Cameron has had a reoccurrence of a hamstring problem he has had for the last few weeks, Michael Duffy has a calf and we are not sure where that’s at, he pulled up in the warm up.”

Adam O’Reilly was returning to Inchicore for the first time since signing for Derry after a very successful loan spell for the Saints last term while O’Neill also impressed Higgins despite only arriving 24 hours before kick-off.

“Adam is an exceptional player, covered every blade of grass as he always does.

“Coming back to where he produced the goods last year, got a bit of stick and it didn’t surprise me that he stood up and delivered a really good performance.

“Ollie showed glimpses, played an unbelievable pass for Ryan Graydon who should do better, he showed glimpses of real quality.

“He’s missed four or five weeks with injury so he’s still getting caught up. It was a difficult night to throw him into but he showed up well and produced glimpses of what we’re going to see in the coming months.”