It is advantage Shels over Shamrock Rovers in League of Ireland title race after Derry get hit by injuries
by Garry Doyle · Irish MirrorShelbourne have been given a massive advantage ahead of Friday night’s title decider after it emerged that their opponents Derry will be forced to play a weakened side.
While it is unclear which Derry players will be missing from the do-or-die game at the Brandywell, it was made clear by the City manager, Ruaidhri Higgins, that he has multiple injury concerns.
Shels need to win in Derry to be guaranteed their first title in 18 years as rivals, Shamrock Rovers, are two points behind but in possession of a better goal difference. So if Shels draw and Rovers win then the title will be staying in Tallaght for a fifth successive year. But Rovers’ fans will be sweating on Derry’s team news after Higgins confessed he will be resting certain players for the following week’s FAI Cup final, when Derry meet Drogheda at the Aviva.
Higgins said: “We have some injury concerns and we will not be taking unnecessary and silly risks. To do so would make no sense. But we will still have a really good team on the pitch, a team capable of winning the game.
“We had an extremely tough weekend (following their 1-0 defeat to St Pat’s last Friday which killed their title challenge). That is human nature to feel that way but as the week has gone on, we have got the players going again and I have no doubt they will be ready by Friday night.
“Shelbourne deserve an awful lot of credit for what they have done over the last three years. Credit to them. They have built and built and built.
“But we are a proud club and we want to finish the season on a high and win the game.”
Winning has been an issue for all the title challengers this year, each of whom have a win ratio under 50 per cent.
And that stems from two things, a lack of consistency at the top end of the table but an unprecedented level of quality at the bottom.
Higgins said: “Listen, this season has been a crazy year in a lot of respects and there are fine margins separating us. Ultimately you end up where you deserve to. We will be as professional as we can and will try to win the game (against Shels on Friday). We want to give our home support some optimism ahead of what is to come in the Cup final.
“It is crazy in a lot of ways that a week ago we were talking about winning a league title and then a week later we are referring to an attempt to qualify for Europe.
“That shows you how tight it is at the top.
“We have to be extremely professional. We have a job to do and all we can do is focus on our game. We have zero control over anything that happens elsewhere.”
Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts