Report: Derry City 2 - 0 Liffeys Pearse FC
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There are so many clichés when it comes to a Premier Division team playing a Junior side and Derry seemed determined to live down to a few of them in a dull Brandywell encounter.
Stephen Kenny made a number of changes from the side who collapsed so spectacularly against Cork City on Sunday and one of them, Kevin Deery, took all of fifty seconds to make an impact as he rifled in a low drive when a Derry corner was beaten out by the Pearse's defence.
After such a bright start, Derry might have been expected to look for more goals against the away side, but an exasperating tendency to over-hit passes and lose possession, whether under pressure or not, somewhat undermined the home fans’ ambitions. Perhaps some unfamiliar pairings around the pitch, including at centre midfield, explains Derry’s lack of cohesion. But the same couldn’t be said for a bright Pearse's side which, while well organised, played a brand of football which was pleasing to the eye and of an attacking nature rarely demonstrated by teams visiting the Brandywell.
That Derry’s best chances for an hour came from set-pieces, with McCrystal and Molloy heading over and Connor Sammon clearly pushed when in front of goal says much for the tireless Dubliners’ closing down of their vaunted opponents, with Man of the Match Andrews and midfielder Doyle outstanding.
If different levels of football are differentiated by speed, it was an advantage Derry were willing to employ sparingly with only winger McGinn really trying to make his pace count. Most of the time, Derry’s lack of tempo and width meant Pearse's were comfortable for the long periods they spent without the ball. Indeed, their two strikers got in each others way at the end of the first half only for Bradshaw to clip the cross-bar for what would have been an interesting if not entirely deserved equaliser.
Derry did up the tempo in the second half with Sammon and Martyn both having shots. It was only when Pearses’ mighty efforts started to catch up with them about the hour mark, with their players going down in threes with cramp, that Derry finally closed the game out. Substitute Mark Farren had already come close to scoring from a low McGinn cross when he found himself in space on the edge of the Pearse's box; a low drive giving keeper Whelan little chance and the home fans a comfortable last ten minutes.
McHugh and Farren both had chances to put what would have been an unwarranted gloss on a very average Derry performance, albeit against a well above average and well supported Junior team who must have wondered what all the fuss was about!
Derry City: Ger Doherty; Eddie McCallion, Peter Hutton (Barry Molloy 46), Mark McCrystal, Aaron Callaghan; Gareth McGlynn, Ciaran Martyn, Kevin Deery, Niall McGinn; Conor Sammon (Mark Farren 61), Kevin McHugh.
Subs not used: Eugene Ferry, Sean Hargan, Gareth Harkin, Seamus Sharkey, Owen Morrison.
Liffey Pearse: Brian Whelan, Daniel O’Connor, Andy Doolin, Alan O’Connor, David Andrews; Aidan Roche (Stephen Callaghan 80), Kenneth Roche, Mark Murphy (Anthony O’Connor 75), Gerry Doyle (David Murphy 87); Lee Roche, James Bradshaw.
Subs not used: Paul Uzell, Dean Kinsella, Lee Tormey, Karl Nolan.
Referee: Hugo Whoriskey.
