Derry City manager Ruaidhrí Higgins has no problem with his side’s performance as they shared the spoils with Dundalk

DERRY CITY gave up his Premier Division lead but boss Ruaidhrí Higgins had no trouble with his side’s performance as they shared the spoils with Dundalk.

A goalless draw at the Ryan McBride Brandywell allowed Bohemians – led by ex-Candystripes boss Declan Devine – to skip Derry to the top.

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But Higgins felt the performance – particularly after the break – was as good as the Cup winners’ this season.

He said: “There was nothing in the first half but after the break it was one-way traffic and I thought we put on an absolutely brilliant performance.

“It was blast after blast and they didn’t come out. That performance in the second half was our best performance of the season so far.

“I am so proud of the players because of their energy and work speed.

“We didn’t get the three points we deserved but if we can keep putting in the same effort and work that we showed in the second half then we’ll be right there at the end of the season.”

An early-stage injury to veteran centre-back Mark Connolly meant he was withdrawn and Higgins confirmed the Monaghan man will receive a scan to diagnose a hamstring problem.

He explained: “Mark will have a scan to assess the damage, which is disappointing for him.

“But I was very happy with Ciarán Coll’s performance when he moved up the middle and Ronan Boyce’s performance coming into the back four.

“Our level of performance hasn’t dropped and I’m very happy with it.”
Dundalk Gaffer Stephen O’Donnell rated the result as good.

He said: “It’s a positive result for us and given how the game went in the second half we would have gotten the draw.

“We were fine in the first half, but we were disappointed in the second half because we didn’t bear any attacking threats. Despite that, we defended our box quite well, which was important.

“We expect to have an attacking threat in every game, but we didn’t do that in the second half.

“We have a good record at Brandywell and it’s always a difficult place so we’ll take the point and move on.

“Derry are a good team – they have good players – but we managed to limit them to half-chances and set pieces after the break.”