Derry City manager Ruaidhrí Higgins will do his homework on Treaty United

The tie, which is scheduled for a 2pm kick-off in front of the RTE cameras on Sunday October 16th, is certain to be a sell-out and Higgins believes his side will be fully prepared for Tommy Barrett’s men after United saw off UCD with ex-Derry City striker Enda Curran helping himself to a hat-trick in Friday night's 4-1 win at Markets Field.

“Treaty put UCD away comprehensively,” warned Higgins. “I’ve always said and I repeat it, we’ve done nothing as a team and if we show any snobbery then we’ll get turned over. They have shown what they are capable of so we’ll do our homework and really study them and try to get another massive victory.”

The Derry boss was thrilled his players finally saw off 10 men Shamrock Rovers on Sunday but admitted they had again made things difficult for themselves by failing to take chances.

Higgins was also full of praise for the Hoops who, despite being down to 10 men, dominated for long periods in the second half.

“We don’t make it easy for ourselves at times,” he joked, “If the penalty goes in we’re 2-0 up at half time and they are down to 10 men and maybe it doesn’t give them the belief they had at the start of the second half. But we’re in the semi-final and that’s all that matters.

“We like to do it the hard way quite often. We probably should have been further in front at half time.

“They went to a back four and a narrow midfield in the second half and it took us a while to get to grips with it. They were excellent in the second half. We had to get a foothold in the game but we did that with the two substitutes getting the second and third goal.

“Back in May we went to Tallaght and lost a game we should have got something out of. The difference was we didn’t have the squad depth to get a result that night but now we do and we have seen the benefits of that.

“It was a great goal from Danny (Lafferty), a great delivery from Michael (Duffy) and it was a fantastic goal from Brandon (Kavanagh) who has waited a while for that. He showed his class and composure when he got in there.

“Without our supporters, we mightn’t have got over the line. They were a credit to themselves and a credit to the club with how they got behind the players. In difficult moments it would have been easy to get frustrated but they stayed with us and it’s a great night for us. We have a home draw now in the semi-final and hopefully we get another packed crowd.”