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Derry City F.C The reckoning.

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Well, from the end of last season and the start of this has been problematic to say the least. After being beaten in the Cup Final we didn't make the grade for European football and subsequently this has in part lead to a severe lack of resources.

As a result the club have had to cut it's cloth accordingly. Our top goal scorer for the last few seasons was allowed to leave on a free transfer (Rory Patterson). Several other senior players contracts were allowed to wind down most significantly our captain Barry Molloy. Now, Molloy is getting on a bit and was at fault for one of the goals that cost us the Cup Final but he was an inspiration and driving force on the field. We couldn't afford to renew his contract on the same terms and he has left for pastures new (and poorer) the Irish League, namely Cliftonville from north Belfast. Cliftonville, at the time of writing, are top of their league.

One of young stars of last season, Shane Duffy has left for Celtic, I think we got around 100 grand. Good luck to the lad, I hope it goes better for him at that club than it did for THE DERRY PELE, Paddy McCourt (now at Notts County) and also Niall McGinn (Aberdeen). A couple of the other youngster went to Brentford for trials but thankfully for us came back home.

We are relying on them, Barry McNamee and Paddy 'Fats' McElhenny and very young Josh Daniels to provide the creative spark. We have a solid but very young core which have been recently been augmented by a couple of senior journeymen.

Like I said above, I think we'll finish 6th due to having a very small squad.
 
Well let me get up to date.

The first game was an away win to newly promoted Galway Utd. Good result considering the LOI's archaic ruling which allows suspensions to be carried from season to season.

Second game was a 1-1 draw away to Sligo Rovers, again another strong performance.

Third game and we hit the buffers as the champions Dundalk arrived in town. They are the favourites to retain their title and beat us 0-1 in a tigh game of few chances.

Fourth game, away to the Dubs of St Pat's where we were made to look like the young team that we are (midfield, average age of 21). Going down 2-0.

Fifth game and up to date. Back at the Brandywell we easily beat Drogheda Utd 3-0 which included a fantastic 25 strike from young Barry McNamee.
 
Two games to catch up on.

Firstly we were brought down to earth away to an excellent Cork City who beat us 3-0 at their home ground of Turner's Cross. To be honest I hope they win the league, mostly to keep it away from Dublin and they have fantastic support with anything from 3000-5000 people turning up. Something which Derry (4th biggest city on the island, Cork is the third largest) can only dream of these days.

Last night witnessed an atrocious game of football at the Brandywell (St Pat's were the visitors). Very very few attempts on goal (much akin to watching Liverpool v Blackburn Rovers). The game ended in a 0-0 stalemate.
 
Last weeks home defeat to a part time and newly promoted Galway Utd is, so far, the nadir of our season. The team and manager were booed off the pitch by a dwindling support. A little pride was restored last night even though the match ended in an away defeat to the last year's champions and this years leaders, Dundalk. An 87th minute goal gave them the win but we played well and deserved more out of the game.

Away from from football real life has taken a turn for the worse for our all time leading goal scorer, Mark Farren. Good luck Mark, it puts football into perspective.

http://www.derryjournal.com/news/farren-to-receive-brain-tumour-treatment-in-mexico-1-6743981
 
Well, we're still going in a downward direction. Beaten 0-1 by a Shamrock Rovers youth side in the semi final of our league cup. Terrible.

Back to the league, a 1-1 draw with an equally dismal Sligo Rovers.
 
Dropping like a stone. A home 0 - 3 thumping by St Pats was last night followed by a 4 - 1 away humping bt Shamrock Rovers. We haven't had a league win in 7 games. I love football.
 
Good God. A 1-1 away draw to Drogheda. 15 points from 17 games, thankfully the mid season break is upon us.
 
Balls to this. 0-0 at home to lowly Limerick. That's 11 games without a win. Fuck Derry City, fuck Liverpool. Fuck football.
 
Well that's it, after 13 games without a win we finally beat the colossus that is Longford Town at home 3-0.We're still a hair's breath away from the relegation places.
 
This has been followed up by a 4-0 home win. League leaders Dundalk up next at the Brandywell.
 
Let me see where we're at, a few wins followed by a dreadful loss at home to relegation rivals. Being beat by Cork City 0-3 in a Cup quarter final replay has lead to the ousting of the manager by 'mutual' consent. In steps the assistant (not sure he knows anything about tactics but apparently the players are terrified of him) and has a first win against Shamrock Rovers.

There's five games left, every one of them, a clichéd, 'Cup Final'.
 
A three to one home win against Bray Wanderers more or less guarantees that we stay up this season.
 
Safety secured with a 0-2 away win at Limerick. This has been a terribly depressing season. Our time/ground/manager are rapidly going downhill.
 
Last game of the season resulted in a 4-2 away defeat to Longford Town. Which meant they finished 6th and we finished 7th with a grand total of 35 points. It has been a terrible slog of a season with the bottom team having amassed 28 points which shows how bad we've been.

The manager who kept us up was Paul Heggarty (good work) who is usually our assistant. He was offered he job for next season but has turned it down due to personal reasons. The usual chancers are in the hunt with a few leftfield names including Kanchelskis (?) who apparently wants to establish himself in management, fuck me.

Thank you to anyone who did read this seasons rather scant offerings. Hopefully I'll be a bit more optimistic next season.

Bye.
 
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