Derry star Patrick McEleney ahead of schedule says Ruaidhri Higgins

The playmaker, who went under the knife in Sweden eight weeks ago to correct an injury which plagued his season last year, emerged as a second half substitute in Sunday's 2-2 draw with Finn Harps at Finn Park as Derry got their pre-season fixtures up and running.

A lovely worked first half goal from Michael Duffy and a 47th strike from Sean Patton who swept home Paul McMullan's cross were cancelled out by Ryan Flood and Max Hutchinson's late header as Darren Murphy's side twice fought back to earn a draw in the first pre-season friendly in Ballybofey for 11 years!

The result mattered little to Higgins as he looked to give a run-out to most of his squad and the introduction of McEleney will have given him plenty of encouragement with five weeks remaining before the Candy Stripes kick-off their Premier Division campaign at home to Drogheda United.

Providing an update on McEleney's fitness after the final whistle, Higgins was optimistic.

"Patrick is probably ahead of schedule and he's doing really well. He's trained a good bit over the last couple of weeks. We'll not rush him back too quickly. So really good from that end."

There was no place in the squad for either of Higgins' close season signings from Dundalk, Daniel Kelly or Pat Hoban, but it was a worthwhile exercise for the youthful visiting side who, the City boss pointed out, finished with a half dozen of teenagers on the pitch.

Overall, despite a heavy surface, Higgins was pleased with what he saw from his team's first pre-season outing.

"It was a tricky pitch to say the least and really heavy on the lads' legs," said the Derry boss. "People are at different stages of pre-season. Some are flying and some are just getting going. We had a couple of niggles as well so it was important that we managed the minutes properly. From a physical point of view it was a good exercise on an extremely difficult pitch.

"We scored two really good goals," he added. "Well worked goals and it was really good to get the young lads on the pitch. We finished with five or six lads around 16, 17 and 18 years of age which is good experience for them. I'm glad to come out of here with minimal damage in terms of injuries and we can move on and try and kick on."

Derry's pre-season continues with a trip to the Sligo Showgrounds on Thursday before heading to Mourneview Park where Glenavon awaits next Tuesday, January 23rd.

"There's no substitute for match practice. You can train all you want and do all the running you want but you can't replicate that in games so it was really good to get them back on the pitch."

Finn Harps: T Hiemer, J Watson, M Makinson, N Baba, K Jordan; A McLaughlin, S Doherty, D Cawley, R Flood; T McNamee; P Ferry. Subs: R Rainey, C Lotefa, S Edogun, M Hutchison and O Cooney for Ferry, Cawley, Doherty, Flood and Hiemer (HT), S McMonagle and S O’Donnell for Baba and McLaughlin (64), S Keogh, D Coyle and M Johnston for McNamee, Watson and Jordan (73).Derry City: T Ryan; C Barr, M Connolly, S Todd, C Coll; S Diallo, L O’Donnell; P McMullan, M Duffy, B Doherty, D Mullen. Subs: B Maher, R Boyce, S McEleney, C McJannett, T McGinty and S Patton for Ryan, Todd, Connolly, O’Donnell, Barr and Mullen (HT), P McEleney, D McCallion, B McGonagle and O’Donnell (66) for Diallo, Coll, McMullan and Duffy (67).Ref: M Connolly.