Derry City must stick together says defender Mark Connolly ahead of Dundalk clash

Back to back defeats against Bohemians and Galway were followed by a vastly improved display in Monday's scoreless draw against league leaders, Shelbourne, a result Connolly is hoping will help kick-start a Candystripes’ revival, beginning on Friday against Dundalk at Brandywell.

"Listen, Ruaidhri is always going to get a reaction," explained Connolly, "We have huge amount of respect for the manager. There has a been a little bit of noise about himself and about ourselves and the biggest thing is we have to do is stick together. I know that’s a cliche but we really, really do.

"We lost two football matches that we didn't want to lose, but we have to stick together as a football team – as a club, fans and everyone. Me being an outsider from Clones, I would always look at Derry as being a city that sticks together. Everyone pulls in and works hard and, like I said, when things aren't going well we stick together because we want to win football matches.

"We want to win this league, we want to be up there but we can't be if we lose a game of two, or we haven't played as well as we wanted, and it turns negative because everyone is trying. We are desperate to do things right and, again, from a senior player, all I can ask is everyone stick together moving forward."

Connolly agreed with his manager's assertion that the performance in last Friday's 1-0 home defeat to Galway was unacceptable but stressed everyone is working as hard as possible to bring success to the club.

"Everyone is genuinely trying as hard as they can to make sure everything goes right, " he added, "We are not on the top of the table at the moment and we have lost two football matches that we didn't want to lose, they weren't our best performances.

"The Bohs game we could have got something from the game, the Galway game they have scored late on and it's something we don't accept, but we also need to have a bit of togetherness. I know it can be easier said than done but as a senior player we really need to stick together."

Despite being unable to secure the win they were after, Connolly believes Monday's point against Damien Duff's team was a positive step in the right direction.

"Look they were two defeats we didn't want and we don't expect to have but that's football. We came down here to a team who are in good form, full of confidence and we felt like we controlled the game. We felt like we had the majority of the ball. They were obviously looking to catch us on the counter attack but I felt like we were comfortable.

"Generally I didn't fee like we were under any real pressure. We wanted to win the football match, we didn't unfortunately but we kept a clean sheet and we move on. It's a quick turnaround and we go again on Friday. In this league if you win a few games it is back on track, that's how it is.

"Again, this is not an easy place to come to and this is not an easy league this year. You're not going to turn up and win every game. Shamrock Rovers came here earlier in the season and got turned over.

"We knew we’d have to roll our sleeves up but also we had to show a bit of quality. Unfortunately we didn't get the goal we wanted to win but it’s a clean sheet, so we have to move on.