Derry City manager Declan Devine concerned with coronavirus infection rate

The Department of Health’s latest statistics reveal that in the Derry-Strabane region alone, more than 1,000 people have tested positive in the last week. Devine is adamant his squad will continue to do everything possible to avoid infection, but he conceded it is a huge worry for him.

“I think the most concerning aspect at the minute is the number of cases where we live,” he stated. “We have got to look at our own doorstep and we have got to appeal to everybody to continue to do the right things.

“From our side, we have to make sure that we keep our ‘bubble’ nice and tight and nice and clean. That’s not to say that there’s going to be no cases because it’s part of life at the minute and we are going to have to deal with it.

“At the same time, we have to keep our head down and keep the high standards that we have kept up until now.”

Two League of Ireland games - St Patrick’s Athletic against Dundalk and Galway United versus Drogheda United - were this week postponed after one positive COVID-19 case was identified in the Dubliners’ squad. As a result, the whole first team squad and staff are now restricting their movements while there was two positive cases identified in the Galway set-up and they too are restricting their movements.

Indeed some of Stephen Kenny’s Ireland back-room team were also unable to travel to Slovakia for last night’s crucial Euro play-off and the Derry boss is keeping his fingers crossed that Eoin Toal, Nathan Gartside and Jake Dunwoody all return from N Ireland U21 duty fighting fit as they prepare to travel to champions elect Shamrock Rovers next Friday evening.

“All we are hoping for this week is to get everybody ready and focused for Shamrock Rovers. The boys have trained great and we just want the three boys to come back from international duty and get them back into our bubble,” he added.

“You see a couple of people falling from international football over the last couple of days and our concern now is that while we have our bubble and have been very strict about it, you just hope that the international players come back all clear and get through the games fine. Then we can look forward to going to Tallaght.

“It’s a magnificent challenge for us next week and we have to prepare as well as we can all this week.

“There is a lot of positivity around the place this week but we have to make sure that we are ready for what is a huge challenge. No one has beaten Shamrock Rovers this year but we have to make sure we get something from the game.”

Devine was full of praise for all the League of Ireland clubs for working tirelessly toward ensuring the season runs as smoothly as possible and he remains optimistic that they will finish the 2020 campaign.

“First and foremost the football family in the League of Ireland deserves huge credit,” he said.

“At the height of the pandemic we came back in, pushed through and were so disciplined, every club has been great.

“People don’t know what clubs have had to do behind the scenes in terms of the protocols which happen on a daily and weekly basis to get the games on.

“When you look at other sports that haven’t maybe had the success that the league has had up to now, I think a lot of players and clubs deserve a lot of credit because of the way they have gone about their business over the last three months to get football back up and running again.

“However the key factor now is to try and push it through and finish the season right.”