Derry City's overseas imports showing early promise

A lot of those overseas signings, particularly those in recent seasons like Israeli defender, Alon Netzer, Austrian, Max Karner, Spaniards, Cristian Castells and Cristian Delgado, Swedes, Armin Aganovic and Ola Tidman, Slovak, Jozef Dolny, Algerian, Gianni Seraf, Nigerian-born, Dapo Kayode, American, Conor Agnew and Ghanian-born John Cofie haven’t exactly left a lasting impression - a positive one at any rate.

However, there have been certain gems who have arrived on Foyleside to greatly enhance the Candy Stripes.

South African, Owen Da Gama, Brazilian, Nelson Da Silva and Serbian striker, Alex Krstic became Brandywell favourites during the late 1980s and remain among some of the greatest foreign players to have graced the league.

In more recent years Libyan international Eamonn Zayed (although Dublin-born), Denmark’s Niclas Vemmelund and Austria’s Lukas Schubert have left their mark on Derry City and the league.

As Dundalk and Shamrock Rovers continue to hold a monopoly of financial power over the rest of the League of Ireland, Derry City managers must search far and wide in attempts to bolster their squads.

Unable to compete in the market for the best domestic players who are drawn to the financial packages and long term contracts on offer at Oriel Park and Tallaght, taking gambles on unproven or little known foreign players is becoming the norm.

And that’s exactly what current City boss, Declan Devine has had to do again as he looks to rebuild his squad ahead of the 2020 season along with clever use of the loan market which reaped its rewards last season with the additions of the club’s top scorers, Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe from Colchester and David Parkhouse from Sheffield United.

Stephen Mallon (Sheffield United) and Adam Liddle (Reading) have joined on six month loan spells this season but from the nine new signings, three arrive from foreign soils and add a certain mystique to Derry City’s 2020 panel.

After Friday night’s SSE Airtricity Premier Division curtain-raiser at Oriel Park, Derry fans got their first glimpse of Norwegian striker, Tim Nilsen and Hull City loanee, Danny Lupano who hails from Belgium.

Ivorian winger, Moussa Bakayoko remains an unknown quantity having been an unused sub on the night, although we did see him in pre-season games against Finn Harps and Institute.

They join Argentine midfielder, Gerardo Bruna in an exciting City team which boasts its own unique foreign flavour with a blend of local men and some English and Scottish natives.

Hopefully we’ll get to see a little bit more of 23 year-old winger, Bakayoko who is the first player from the Ivory Coast to play in the League of Ireland.

He’s played in Morocco and joins the club after a three-year spell in Armenia with Shirak Gyumri.

And striker, Nilsen (27) looks a genuine talent who has the potential to become a major hit at the club this season. He scored a bagful for Norwegian third tier side, Fredrikstad and has good pedigree. The 27 year-old was starved of the ball for long periods of the 1-0 defeat to the Lilywhites which was as much down to Derry’s game-plan to hit on the counter than Dundalk’s dominance.

Nilsen showed some nice touches, made intelligent runs and had impressive pace over short distances, particularly when he left Andy Boyle in his wake in the first half before Dan Cleary made a last ditch block to deny the Norwegian a shot on target.

The striker, who led the line on his own until the introduction of fellow new signing, Adam Liddle late on, was presented with Derry’s best chance when he got onto the end of Jamie McDonagh’s cross but was denied by a fantastic point blank reaction save from Gary Rogers.

I, for one, am excited to see how he develops as he gains match fitness, becomes sharper and garners a greater awareness of the league and his teammates.

It was interesting to hear Devine describe him afterwards as a combination of the late Mark Farren and Rory Patterson.

While Conor McCormack was my Derry City ‘man of the match’ against Dundalk given his workrate, some crucial interceptions and game intelligence,

Danny Lupano ran him extremely close with a performance which defied his age and experience, let down only by a lapse in concentration at the end.

The 19 year-old Brussels-born defender was thrown into the lion’s den on his senior football and League of Ireland debut - a sign of how highly rated he is by Devine and his backroom team. At the home of the champions, and after just a couple of weeks with his new teammates, he found himself up against arguably the league’s best player in Michael Duffy but was composure personified. He also had to contend with match winner, Dane Massey overlapping on the Dundalk left flank but he did so without fear.

It was a solid debut from the youngster and Duffy was hugely impressed by the man tasked with stopping him in his tracks.

“He was tough to play against,” said the Dundalk winger. “He’s a battler and he’s strong and athletic. He was tough and I think he will do well in the league. He got stuck in and put in a couple of great tackles on me as well.”

City skipper, McCormack was equally impressed: “There’s no fear in him. To come here and mark the best player in Ireland at the minute for me, he has done magnificent and was probably one of our best players tonight. There are positive signs and hopefully he can go on to bigger and better things.”

He certainly wasn’t overawed at the prospect of playing against a rampant, relentless Dundalk side and the early signs are that he can become a top addition for the duration of his six month loan spell. Lupano will have been disappointed to have lost his man for the corner kick which produced the game’s only goal with just 13 minutes left on the clock but that momentary lapse in concentration will be forgiven bearing in mind his overall performance, his youthfulness and the tired legs at the end of a significant shift.

The addition of Nilsen, Lupano and Bakayoko all add an element of intrigue to the new season and Devine looks to have done well in the market for a second successive season. There was no shame in the 1-0 defeat to the champions who finished a massive 29 points ahead of Derry last year. The Lilywhites are the benchmark and it was always going to be a tough task bearing in mind the last win at Oriel Park dates back to 2013.

Despite the obvious frustrations at the manner of defeat, there were lots of positives to take as Devine seeks to bounce back in the derby! It will be interesting to see if the club’s latest foreign imports make a name for themselves with a derby winner.