Derry City can hold their heads up high after Oriel Park defeat: Conor McCormack

The City skipper, making his second debut for the club, felt the team had done enough to earn a draw from the match and claimed the Candy Stripes were comfortable as they had frustrated the league champions until the 87th minute when Dane Massey struck the winning goal.

Despite a raft of new signings in the Derry line-up, the County Louth native felt the visitors had matched Dundalk and while disappointed with the result, he opted to focus on the positives from a battling display.

“We had a gameplan to come here tonight and frustrate them and hopefully take our chances,” he said. “To be fair, when you look back, I think we had the best chance of the night with Tim Nilsen and Gary Rogers pulled off a good save.

“We held our own and I thought we deserved a positive result. We probably didn’t do enough to win it but certainly didn’t deserve to lose. When you lose by a set-piece with 10 minutes to go it’s heartbreaking.

“There’s five or six new lads who started there tonight and it is tough to gel but there were positive performances and we look forward to Finn Harps next week.”

What was particularly galling was Derry had done their homework on Dundalk’s threat from set-pieces but they were undone by a lapse in concentration and unfortunate slip from Danny Lupano which allowed Massey to pounce. Pat Hoban had also been dominant from corner kicks and came close on several occasions. “I thought we were very comfortable bar set-pieces.

“Dundalk over the years, when they don’t play well they score from set-pieces and we knew that coming into the game. It’s very hard to stop them and unfortunately they got a free chance in the box from a set-piece and we weren’t able to clear it.

“It is a positive sign because a lot of teams come over here and roll over and are 2-0 down before half-time. We have big characters in the dressing room and good players and this year I would be pretty positive.

“It’s hard to do it for 90 minutes, especially against the champions who move the ball very quickly and have so many talented players who rotate.”

McCormack was one of Derry’s standout performers on the night as he covered every blade of artificial grass.

When Conor Clifford gifted Daniel Kelly possession in behind the Derry defence in the second half with a stray back-pass, it was McCormack who reacted quickest and thwarted the pacey winger’s run towards the City net.

“I was happy enough with my own performance and a lot of the lads can hold their heads up high there tonight. We will go back to the training field on Sunday and look forward to the game on Friday. It’s never an easy game against Harps especially that derby. I’ve played in a few myself and they are helter skelter.

“It always is a 50/50 game and it’s always tough but we look forward to it. We go back to the drawing board again on Sunday and we’ll have a gameplan which hopefully will help us get the three points.”