DERRY CITY: Two defenders expected to arrive at Brandywell

DERRY CITY manager Kenny Shiels is expected to strenghten his defence with the imminent arrival of two new signings.
Defender Niall Logue is expected to sign for Derry City this week.Defender Niall Logue is expected to sign for Derry City this week.
Defender Niall Logue is expected to sign for Derry City this week.

While Shiels would only confirm that one of his new additions is a left-back from a ‘cross-channel club’, he did reveal that ex-Institute youngster Niall Logue is likely to join this week.

The Gobnascale man, who has recently returned from a few years at Ohio State University in America, impressed in Saturday’s friendly against Finn Harps.

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“We are at a very early stage in terms of bringing in the left-back from a cross-channel club, but hopefully things can get sorted,” admitted Shiels.

“He’s a talented player and it means that we’ll be able to push Ben (Doherty) further up the pitch.”

As for Logue, who is also believed to be tracked by fellow Premier Division side Sligo Rovers and City’s North West neighbours Finn Harps, Shiels believes the young centre-back will be a good acquisition to his squad.

“I’m hoping to get Niall sorted out this week,” he added.

“He’ll give us good cover at left centre-back and left-back. He did well on Saturday against Finn Harps.

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“Niall has settled in well with the boys he has done a few training sessions and as I said he played well at the weekend.

“If I manage to get those two signings done that will be us definitely finished in terms of signing players.”

Shiels also confirmed that striker Ronan Curtis returned to training on Monday and he may feature in Friday night’s league opener at Waterford.

However one man who is definitely missing the trip to Regional Sports Centre this week is midfielder David Hopkirk, who continues to struggle with injury.

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“Hopkirk isn’t back, but Ronan Curtis might be back as he trained today and that’s a positive,” he added.

“We don’t know exactly what we need to do for Conor McDermott, whether he needs an operation or whether he’s going to try it for a couple of weeks to see how it goes, but we just don’t know yet.

“However in saying that we are upbeat and can’t wait for the game and will be looking to give a good account of ourselves.”

City played their final pre-season game at Carrowmena on Saturday with new signings Dapo Kayode, Armin Aganovic, Jamie McDonagh, John Cofie, Rory and Ronan Hale all getting some action.

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The Brandywell men took the lead thanks to another smart finish from Ronan Hale, making no mistake when curling the ball into the bottom left hand corner from 20 yards.

Harps levelled things with the last kick of the game as substitute Michael O’Connor fired home from the penalty spot, after he was upended inside the box by Eoin Toal.