Manager Tiernan Lynch insists Derry City will respect champions Shelbourne for Friday night’s league opener, but his side will show what they are about, at Tolka Park.
The Belfast native, who has concerns over Gavin Whyte, Robbie Benson, Carl Winchester and Pat Hoban for this evening’s clash, feels there’s real quality in his squad.
“They’re a top side, who work extremely hard, have good players and have a good manager,” he stated.
“They’re league champions for a reason and we’ll totally respect that, but we’re not going to make Friday night just being about Shelbourne.
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“There’s two teams going out onto the pitch and it’s important that we concentrate very much on the thing that we think we’re capable of doing and how we can impose our side and our talent and our qualities on Shelbourne.
“I watch my team every day and I think there’s so much to offer from this team. There’s real quality in the group of players.
“There’s no doubt I think this team will evolve over time and get better over time, but what we have to do is make sure that we hit the ground running and Friday night is the start of the campaign and that’s what our focus is on.
“We won’t be trying to look at two or three months from now, we’re just looking at Friday and that’s the be-all and end-all for us.
“You probably never feel ready. We’re just two or three months in and we still want more and are trying to implement more and we have to be patient at that. We have to keep working hard every single day.
“Look, winning against Shelbourne, losing against Shelbourne [or] drawing against Shelbourne, won’t make or break our season.
“I’ve been asked 50 times already where we’ll finish this year in the League. These are things that you’ll never ever get off of me. All we’ll concentrate on will be Shelbourne.”
The ex-Larne gaffer isn’t too concerned about the age profile of his squad, but knows it will become a story if the Foylesiders have another disappointing season.
“I haven’t talked about [it] and if Derry go on and have a very successful season, it will not be mentioned, but if Derry don’t have a successful season there’s no doubt it will be thrown up,” he explained.
“As I said it’s not something that we’re overly thinking about, we feel there’s real talent in this team, there’s real ability and our big thing now is can we bring [it] out.
“There’s no doubt there’s experience in the squad, but we also have lots of legs in the squad and we feel there’s a good blend, but time will obviously tell.”
Lynch also confirmed that he’s still on the lookout to improve his squad, before the transfer window in the League of Ireland closes.
“I think 99.9 per cent of the squad is in place, but until that window closes as a manager you’re always forever hopeful,” he added.
“You just don’t know what might happen between now and then but it’s not something that we’re overly thinking about, what we’re concentrating on now is the group of players that’s in the building, the group of players that are here and if anything comes over and above that, then it’s a bonus.”
Elsewhere in the Premier Division on the opening night while the Virgin Media cameras will be at Tolka Park, Stephen Kenny’s title favourites St Patrick’s Athletic host last season’s FAI Cup winners Drogheda United and John Caulfield returns to Cork City with his Galway United side.
Tomorrow night Sligo Rovers host Waterford and on Sunday it’s expected 30,000 supporters will be in attendance at the Aviva Stadium for the massive Dublin derby as Bohemians take on old rivals Shamrock Rovers.
In the First Division, Dundalk entertain Athlone Town; Mick McDermott’s Cobh Ramblers travel to Treaty United; Wexford make the trip to UCD and on Saturday night Longford Town take on Bray Wanderers.
