Drogheda United beating Derry City 2-0 in the FAI Cup final produces two wildly contrasting narratives.
Unexpected glory always trumps massive underachievement but the real work starts now. Drogheda have five days to celebrate and recover before facing Bray Wanderers at Tallaght Stadium next Saturday in a relegation/promotion playoff to stay in the Premier Division.
Bound for European football next summer, and guaranteed prize money of €525,000, this semi-professional club could yet be a First Division outfit by the time they enter continental competition.
“I didn’t even think about Europe. We are training tomorrow. We have to stay in the league next year,” whispered Kevin Doherty, the Drogheda manager, already hoarse after Andrew Quinn and Douglas James-Taylor goals fractured three years of squad-building by Derry manager Ruaidhrí Higgins and businessman Philip O’Doherty.
“Trivela picked a good year to come in, it would not have happened without them, I promise you,” said Doherty.
Trivela, the Alabama-based investors that took over at Walsall in England and Drogheda before buying back Weavers Park from the FAI, just struck Uefa gold.
Semi-pros are not supposed to win trophies any more. Until last year, Doherty was a postman. Several members of the Drogs’ squad have day jobs, mostly in Dublin. Gary Deegan also delivers mail. Adam Foley works in sales. Luke Heeney is employed by Cadbury’s, doing night shifts on Thursdays. David Webster is a printer in Leixlip. Darragh Markey does accounts for a construction company in Tallaght. Conor Kane works for civil engineers in Blanchardstown.
They all commute for training. That’s a two-hour round trip, if they manage to dodge rush-hour traffic.
“I can promise you there’s not a harder-working team,” said Doherty. “Look, the lads working, coming here and winning the FAI Cup final at the Aviva, we all know their power. You have to believe. I believe in myself, I always have.
“I was doing this job and still delivering post last year. God knows where the letters were going, they went somewhere. Things were tough, you had no chance.”
Derry City’s season fell apart before everyone’s eyes. Until October 25th and their penultimate league fixture against St Patrick’s Athletic at Richmond Park, Higgins was three victories away from masterminding a league and cup double that would have been framed as their greatest season.
St Pat’s ruined the dream of winning a title at the Brandywell before Shelbourne and Damien Duff journeyed north to leave Derry fourth in the table. They needed to win on Sunday to qualify for Europe.
Drogheda won so convincingly before 38,723 fans that it prompted Gareth McGlynn, who made more than 350 appearances for Derry, to use his RTÉ platform to turn on the players while excluding Higgins and O’Doherty from blame.
“Derry City players have let the city down tonight,” said McGlynn. “They let the manager down and they let the chairman down. You can have all the technical ability in the world but if you haven’t got the heart and the need to go and do something, then you are not going to achieve it. They need to be damned ashamed of themselves.”
Higgins confirmed that an overhaul of the squad is imminent, the very group that O’Doherty and the manager built since the latter left the Republic of Ireland coaching staff, under Stephen Kenny, in April 2021.
“I’ve a really good relationship with Philip,” said Higgins. “He has been a big supporter of mine, unwavering.”
Do you want to stay on? “Aye. The club means an awful lot to me. The city means an awful lot to me. I can be criticised for being emotionless at times but, believe me, I’m an extremely emotional person. Do I have the drive and hunger to keep going? When the dust settles, my intention is to keep going. When we lose it hurts bad, it affects your life and affects the lives of people around you. There will be a lot of soul searching.”
Derry have gone backwards under the 40-year-old. They finished runners-up behind Shamrock Rovers in 2022 and 2023, capturing the cup in year two. This was supposed to be the breakout year.
“We just had no spark about us in the last month, it has been extremely difficult. We had an opportunity to win two trophies. It’s been a real terrible end to the season. Huge disappointment.
“I had a really, really good feeling this week,” Higgins added. “There was a good atmosphere around the group, a real buzz around the city.
“I can’t pick a specific point [when it went wrong] but drawing with Bohs and Sligo at the Brandywell [last month], on a Friday and Monday, when we really needed to [win] ...
“There has to be a refresh and a reboot.
“When it really mattered we didn’t produce the goods. We talked about it, to get over the line, you need a real strong mentality and everyone together.”
