Tiernan Lynch admits Derry City's defensive plan didn't work against Shelbourne

First half goals from Jack Henry-Francis and former Candy Stripes Daniel Kelly secured victory for Joey O'Brien's team who led 2-1 at the break and were were largely untroubled by a lacklustre second half from the home side.

The final whistle was greeted by a chorus of boos by an increasingly frustrated home support who have seen their team concede eight goals in five home matches this season, something Lynch admits cannot be allowed to continue.

"It was a tactical decision," explained the Brandywell boss of his decision to go five at the back, "The truth is we're just conceding too many goals, and we wanted stability on the back line.

"Unfortunately, that didn't work because we still conceded too many sloppy and stupid goals that were preventable. For long periods, we had a good foothold in the game but just didn't penetrate the opposition's box enough.

"I'd love to tell you that this is straightforward and that you have to bear with us and have to give us a week or two. In football that's just not the way things work when confidence is low and confidence is low at the moment.

"You're doing things you wouldn't normally do. You're getting punished at every opportunity but we can't just feel sorry for ourselves. We have to put our arms up, take it on the chin and work our way out it."

Both Shels goals came courtesy of moves down the Dubliners left with the elusive Maill Lundgren finding space almost at will in front of a home defence unsure whether to step out and meet him or drop off and shore things up. Goalscorer Henry-Francis dictated much of Shels best work in a midfield that were content to sit during the second half when Derry offered next to nothing in an attacking sense after Henry Rylah's superb strike had initially cancelled out the Shels opener. And was the biggest disappointment. The home side had already demonstrated their character with an excellent response to Henry-Francis’ opener but when Kelly’s goal saw them behind at the break, most were expecting a second half home surge that never materialised.

"What I'm certainly not going to do is sit here and be critical of anyone," added the disappointed Candy Stripes' boss, "We're just in a situation where we have to dig deeper and work our way out of this. We have to stick together. We have to be collective. There's no finger-pointing.

"If you're looking at a tactical perspective on this, we didn't do enough in our own box and we didn't create enough in the opposition's box. The parts in between, I think it's probably the highest possession we've had. We are still trying to get a bit of identity in what we're doing and how we're doing it. Unfortunately results aren't coming with that.

"But there's no blame game in this. If there's any one to blame game then I'll take responsibility. We roll our sleeves up and we go again."

Lynch rang the changes following the defeat to Rovers in Tallaght, the inclusion of fit again Brandon Fleming, Alex Bannon, Rylah and Dipo Akinyemi facilitating the change of formation.

And it was the Candy Stripes who started the more positive but Henry-Francis' growing influence proved decisive when the former Arsenal youth broke the deadlock with a wonderful goal on seven minutes.

Kelly and Lundgren were the architects down the right, the latter pulling the ball back for Henry-Francis to shift the ball from right to left and produce a stunning 25-yard effort which flew in off the inside of Eddie Breach's far post.

Derry's response was instant, a superb crunching tackle by James McClean setting Rylah away from just inside his own half. With the Shels defence backing off, the winger looked up and drove a superb angled drive past Wessel Speel from 20 yards for his first goal for the club.

The frantic pace continued with Sean Gannon denying Duffy a tap in at the back post but Shels too had their chances, with that left flank a source of joy again as the Dubliners hit the front once more on 33 minutes. James Norris, introduced only three minutes earlier for the injured Sam Bone, sent a dangerous box across the six yard box where Fleming got the ball caught under his foot, allowing Daniel Kelly to blast home from two yards for a lead the visitors took into half-time.

Bannon saw a snapshot clear Speel's bar upon the restart but Derry were struggling to make any inroads with Tiernan Lynch forced into a triple substitution as Darragh Markey, James Olayinka and Kevin Dos Santos were introduced.

Yet even the introduction of fit again Cameron Dummigan for a first appearance since November 1, 2025 failed to rouse the home side with Lynch admitting he could understand the fans' reaction after the whistle.

"I totally and utterly take it on the chin," he added, "They're disappointed and we shouldn't be losing football games like that. We have to stick together. We have to take the criticism squarely on the chin. There’s no shying away from it. There are no excuses and we go again."