Tiernan Lynch: It wasn't good enough and that's the bottom line!
TIERNAN Lynch reckons his under-performing Derry City team afforded champions Shamrock Rovers 'too much respect' as they fell to a uninspiring defeat at Tallaght Stadium.
Fan dissatisfaction has intensified over the opening five weeks of the new campaign, which promised so much.
And Lynch has faced fierce scrutiny online as he struggles to find his best starting eleven or most effective formation with the latest performance in Dublin 24 raising further questions about the direction this star-studded squad is heading.
It's still early days and injuries to key players like Carl Winchester, Brian Maher, Brandon Fleming, Liam Boyce and Darragh Markey haven't helped.
However, Friday's toothless display was so lacking in quality, cohesion or attacking threat that it has further heightened pressure on Lynch and his under-firing troops. Rovers dominated from the kick-off enjoying 74% possession in the first half and almost 70% overall. Derry didn’t muster a single shot on target!
He'll not get carried away with a 1-0 loss to the champions on their own patch so early in the season - decided by an 81st penalty kick scored by Dylan Watts - but certainly Derry need to show more ahead of a crunch double-header against Shelbourne and St Patrick's Athletic.
"It's a hugely frustrating evening because we worked so hard all week on the things we wanted to implement, but unfortunately, we just didn't do that," said Lynch afterwards as he conceded his team simply weren't good enough on the night.
"Listen I'm never going to fault our boys for the effort and commitment they give to this football club and pulling that shirt over their head but tonight we know on our part it just wasn't good enough.
"The kid [Barr] is distraught in there,” added Lynch about the decisive moment in the match. “I think it was probably one of those situations where he was running alongside the lad and it was more of a tangle than actually a tackle that was late or anything like that.
"Just because of the nature of it and it being in the box it probably left the referee with no choice.
"But we were too far off them, gave them too much time and space, and probably showed them too much respect.
"We didn't do enough. We turned the ball over probably far too quickly. We needed to get on it and stay on it to make Rovers defend but unfortunately we didn't do that.
" I thought in the second half, we got a little bit better but we just didn't do enough. I just felt we gave them too much time and too much space. We didn't get close enough to them. Take nothing away from Rovers but they were very good but that's not what we set out to do." There have been mitigating factors in Derry's erratic start to the season. The significant overhaul of players certainly hasn't helped as Lynch awaits his new-look team to gel.
The ongoing James McClean debate rages on as fans and pundits question his suitability for the No.6 role but that issue appears to overshadow other glaring problems. Team selection, squad imbalance, and players performing in unfamiliar roles appear to be the notable talking points amongst the City fanbase.
It simply wasn't a good performance but Derry came very close to securing a precious point and a first clean sheet of the campaign after a largely impressive defensive display - until substitute Conor Barr's rash challenge on the dangerous Adam Brennan inside the box.
Eddie Beach produced several smart saves, including one that denied Graham Burke from close range and another in the first half when he clawed away Roperto Lopes' flick-on from under the crossbar.
So, being undone by a penalty kick was harsh, even though the closest they came to scoring was when Michael Duffy's free-kick was taken off the head of Patrick McClean at the back post by a deft flick from Corey O'Sullivan.
It's two defeats from their opening five matches, yielding seven points from a possible 15. Lynch referenced his team's injury issues and the fitness levels of some of his returning players, but he ultimately admitted Derry must step it up before they fall too far off the pace even at this embryonic stage of the season.
The pressure to secure two positive results in the upcoming two matches has suddenly increased but Lynch isn't dwelling on a bad night at the office.
"There are no easy ones in this and we're aware of that. We have to deal with tonight before we deal with Friday night so that has to be our objective.
"They are all big weeks," said Lynch. "They are all big games. There's no easy ones. It's important now that we go back and look at the things we didn't do as well as we could have and should have and maybe [look at] why we didn't do that. Then we have to put it behind us and look forward to Friday night.
"It was disappointing that we didn't get as close as we could have and should have and we're disappointed with that.
"It's not something we're going to go on about. We now have to lick our wounds. We have to take our medicine and move on.
"We gave them too much respect tonight and probably made it too easy for them for long periods and that was the most disappointing part." Barry Cotter returned to his former stomping ground but still looks off the pace while Dipo Akinyemi clearly isn't ready for 90 minutes yet.
"We got 60 out of him [Cotter] last week and I think 65 this week. Obviously Brian Maher has only played one game for us. Carl Winchester got hurt last week and Darragh Markey's been out. Brandon Fleming was out sick today.
"That's Dipo's first 45 minutes so there are lots of things going on but no excuses, we're not looking for ways out of this. Tonight on our part wasn't good enough, and that's the bottom line in it. We have to go away and look at ourselves now and look at ways and means to put that right."