Derry City not in position to get carried away warns captain Michael Duffy
Derry City captain Michael Duffy has warned no one at the club is in a position to get carried away despite the Candy Stripes' 4-2 victory over Dundalk moving the club to within one game of the Club Orange FAI Cup final.
Duffy took his own tally to 12 for the season with his fifth and sixth goal in his last four games but after Mark Connolly's team were handed a tough trip to Galway United in the semi-finals, the winger warned nobody will be taking anything for granted.
"We are in not position to be getting carried away but the job tonight was to get into the semi-final of the FAI Cup and we've done that," explained Duffy after Sunday's victory.
"Our job this week is we have some big league games coming up so we need to get points on the board. As I said, whenever Galway comes around, we will worry about that then.
"It is going to be tough. It's a semi-final and no matter where it was going to be or who we got, we knew it would be a tough game. At least we are there, we are one game away so we will look forward to that but it's back to the league on Friday. When that cup fixture comes around we will worry about it."
Sunday's victory was Derry's best performance yet under caretaker boss Connolly with Patrick McClean's excellent first half header and a Kevin dos Santos goal on his return to action highlighting a more progressive tactical approach.
"I thought it was brilliant," added Duffy on the Derry display, "I thought our reaction to going one down (was brilliant). In the first half when Dundalk had the wind, they were putting a bit of pressure on us but we defended well, got back into the game and went in 2-1 up. Again, a bit of pressure but the boys defended superbly second half and we got the job done."
Duffy paid tribute to the character shown and pinpointed McClean's glancing first half header as a crucial juncture in the game.
"Yeah, that (free-kick) was well worked. We work on set pieces a lot and that one came off perfectly and got us back in the game. It was huge. We know how big set-pieces are and then obviously we had the penalty before half-time to go in 2-1 up was great.
"We probably could have controlled it (the second half) a bit better. We invited a bit of pressure but we dealt with it. Tom (Norcott) didn't have to make too many saves, the boys were defending brilliantly in there and then on the counter we got our two goals which was great."