It's a marathon not a sprint says Derry City's Adam O'Reilly

​The midfielder reckons this Derry team has too much quality to be overly concerned about their current three match winless run and says victory over Sligo Rovers on Saturday would provide a platform to launch their ascent up the league table.

If Derry are to be involved in a title race this term, they've hit a sudden incline as the Candy Stripes are rooted to the bottom after five games.

O'Reilly would be more alarmed if the team wasn't showing signs of improvement and bearing in mind they're level on points with Shamrock Rovers and just four behind champions Shelbourne.

There's 31 games still to be played and O'Reilly's confident Derry will be amongst the runners and riders in the title race come the business end of what's expected to be a wide open season.

"It's anyone's league," said the former Preston man. "It is early and things can change very, very quickly. The league this year, anyone can beat anyone. I don't think anyone is standing out where you could say, 'oh they're going to win it' or whatever. I think it's anyone's league."

They've shown flashes of brilliance in games this season and have also found themselves on the wrong end of some controversial decisions. O'Reilly insists there's nothing to be worried about at this early juncture in the campaign.

"It's early days and I wouldn't be worried. We have a lot of quality in this team and it's still yet to be shown fully.

"I think we deserved more against Galway. We created chances but we do need to start putting them away. I keep saying they will come. It's still early and the boys are still adapting and things like that." Three games in the space of a week probably wasn't ideal for several players still getting to grips with the league but O'Reilly sees plenty of green shoots.

"It's intense but this is what we signed up for. We know what's going to come of it. All the teams in the league are very physical and it's about getting up to speed with that. Our footballing ability is showing. We're going into games and we're dominating. It's just that little final bit is what we still haven't got to grips with but I think that will come.

"This is a process and it takes time. It won't happen overnight. We're just building ourselves up to where we want to be.

"There has to be a time when things will change where it will hit someone's shin and go in for us. It happens for other teams and it will happen for us at some point. We have so much quality in this team and it will come out.

"If we can get the win under our belt against Sligo going into the international break it would give us a good platform to build on when we come back into the season. Until then we need to look at ourselves and what we're going to do against Sligo and go from there.

"There's a long season ahead of us so I wouldn't be too worried right now at all."