Derry City pair Mark Connolly and Cameron Dummigan back in training

Dummigan, who picked up a serious hamstring injury during City’s pre-season friendly in Spain way back in January, has returned to training as has centre-back Connolly.

The former Dundee United man, who also injured his hamstring during the scoreless draw against Dundalk way back in March, maybe slightly behind Dummigan in terms of forcing his way back into Ruaidhrí Higgins’ plans.

Assistant boss Paddy McLaughlin confirmed that the pair are now back on the training pitch and are extremely close to being back in the squad, but conceded that Friday night’s trip to Bohemians may have come too early for the duo.

McLaughlin also conceded that captain Patrick McEleney, who has missed the last few games with an Achilles heel injury, is likely to remain on the side-lines for another couple of weeks.

“We’re a week closer now to Cameron Dummigan and Mark Connolly returning,” insisted McLaughlin.

“They are both back on the pitch, which is brilliant for us and brilliant for the club to see two top players getting back on the grass, so they’re closing in on a return.

“Patrick obviously is another week or two away before hopefully we can get him on the pitch and we’re just keeping a close eye on that situation, but the other two boys are getting closer as each days passes, maybe Friday night might be a wee bit too early, but it’s great to see them back training on the grass.

“Thankfully apart from Patrick we don’t have any fresh injury concerns ahead of the Bohs game, all the boys are healthy and looking forward to the game.

“We obviously have Jackie (Ciaron Harkin) still missing and we’re still waiting on the result back from Colm Whelan’s scan. Hopefully if there’s a bit of luck out there at all, it won’t be too serious, but again until we get the scan results back we won’t know for sure.

“However the news on Patrick, Cameron and Mark is good as they are all getting close to a return.”