Fourtress Maginn

RORY Patterson looks set to return to the Derry City team against Limerick tomorrow night, but he does so safe in the knowledge that his team mates have stepped up in his absence.

- Gary Ferry

Since losing the club’s top scorer in the first half hour at Bohemians on the opening day of the season, the Candy Stripes have scored 11 times, with five different players chipping in with goals.

Patterson will be eager to get off the mark as soon as possible himself, but Kenny Shiels will be content that he once again has goal scorers all around him, a huge positive given the inevitable injuries and suspensions that a long season will bring.

Drogheda will have left Maginn Park slightly aggrieved on Saturday, claiming that a 4-0 score line did not reflect their performance, and it would be hard not to agree.

Whilst City certainly created enough to finish the game with the four, it was harsh on Pete Mahon’s team, who gave as good as they got for a good hour on Saturday. Had Stephen Elliott had his shooting boots on, he might well have ended the first half with three goals, but his poor finishing cost Drogheda any chance of a positive result at Maginn.

In contrast, Barry McNamee, hailed once again ‘the poet laureate’ by manager Shiels, could as the saying goes, ‘write a book with his left foot’, as goalkeeper Stephen McGuinness found out first hand.

McNamee’s hat trick, his first in senior football, was a composition of masterful finishing, showing craft with his first, accuracy with his second and skill with his third as Maginn Park rose to acclaim the Ramelton man, who just gets better and better as the seasons go on.

If Limerick are to get a result tomorrow night, they will surely have to find a way of stopping McNamee, who is the heartbeat of this Derry City team.

Soaked