Declan Devine is banking on a final day favour from Sligo Rovers on Friday night as Derry City continue their push for a third place finish. A draw at home to St Pat’s on Tuesday night would be enough to guarantee the Candystripes the final Europa
Declan Devine is banking on a final day favour from Sligo Rovers on Friday night as Derry City continue their push for a third place finish.
A draw at home to St Pat’s on Tuesday night would be enough to guarantee the Candystripes the final Europa League spot. However, a win over the Saints would see Derry go level with third placed Bohs going into the last round of games on Friday.
The Bit O’Red have already beaten the Gypsies in Dublin this season and Devine is hopeful they can repeat the trick on the same night his Derry host Finn Harps.
“We’re going to try to beat Pat’s on Tuesday," Devine affirmed.
“If we can win there then we’ll still be pushing for that third spot come Friday night. We have two games to play and we want to make sure we win both and see how Bohs get on against a difficult Sligo team.
“There’s nobody celebrating yet.”
Derry did their bid for a top three finish no harm on Saturday night by beating Sligo at the Showgrounds.
Lewis Banks’ first goal for Rovers had given the home side the lead. But Jamie McDonagh’s leveller restored parity and City took the points before the break when an Ed McGinty mistake gifted Barry McNamee the winner.
“That was a huge win for us because it was my first time to win in Sligo as a manager”, Devine continued.
“We didn’t play at our best, but it’s testimony to our players because they’ve given us everything. If we can see this out and get that European place then it would be a magnificent achievement.”
