Being a better all-round team than they were last season will more than compensate for Derry City losing their element of surprise this year, says manager Stephen Kenny.

The 72 points Derry accumulated last year would have been good enough to have won them the league in all but one of the previous 10 seasons, but they were pipped at the post by Cork City, who beat them 2-0 in the crucial final match at Turner's Cross.

"Yes, the element of surprise may be gone," agrees Kenny. "But the other thing is that we have improved as a team on last year and all the players are getting better.

"Certainly players like Barry Molloy, Pat McCourt, Kevin Deery and Killian Brennan are a year more experienced yet they are still all only 21. They can only have benefited from last season.

"I think as a team we have got better. We realise that the other sides have improved and got stronger as well, but all we can do is concentrate on ourselves."

Derry's win over Bohemians last week came at a cost as Mark Farren, last season's top scorer, will be out for a couple of weeks with ankle ligament damage. Gary Beckett and Kevin McHugh vie to start up front with Stephen O'Flynn at Longford Town tonight.

Gareth McGlynn and Clive Delaney both had knee operations this week and will be out for some time.

Longford midfielder Davy Byrne and striker Dave Mooney trained this week and come back into the squad, but boss Alan Mathews is without Dean Fitzgerald (thigh) and Robbie Martin (back).

"We've had a stop-start beginning with a couple of games being postponed. We've had a couple of draws, so it would be nice to get our first win," says Mathews.

Matthew Judge, once on the books of Tottenham Hotspur, is set for his first start for Sligo Rovers against Waterford United at the Showgrounds.

Judge did enough when coming on as a substitute in place of Seán Flannery in last week's 0-0 draw at Dublin City to impress manager Seán Connor who has hinted he may start tonight as Darren Mansaram remains out with a hamstring strain.

Midfielder Chris Turner is still a fortnight away from fitness with a heel injury.

With just two points from five games, bottom of the table Waterford travel without Nigerian midfielder Paul Ometeso who has a calf strain.

"I think the team has done well, considering it's many of the players' first season in the Premier Division," says manager Mike Kerley.