Tiernan Lynch says Derry City has been 'kicked in the teeth' with injuries as Rob Slevin ruled out

​Rob Slevin is the latest Derry player to sustain a lengthy injury; the defender will miss the next three or four weeks with a calf tear, forcing Lynch into another reshuffle of his defensive pack while James McClean serves his suspension after seeing red in Dundalk last week.

With talisman Michael Duffy still sidelined by a quad injury and goalkeeper Brian Maher out with a broken bone in his wrist, Derry has struggled for consistency and form which has left Lynch's position increasingly vulnerable.

The Brandywell boss shot down questions about his future being in jeopardy ahead of the trip to Dublin, refusing to entertain suggestions his job was on the line if the seven-match winless run continued.

When it was put to Lynch that the Derry Board of Directors could look elsewhere for new inspiration if things didn't change, he responded: "That's your comment, not mine."

And when the uncomfortable line of questioning continued Lynch simply retorted: "Again they are your comments, not mine. My job is to try and get Derry City ready for Shelbourne on Friday night and that's what I intend to do." There's no doubting the pressure is intensifying on the Belfast man with the fear that fan frustrations are reflected in the ticket sales for next week's historic move into Celtic Park when Derry host Shamrock Rovers at the Derry GAA venue.

Lynch can look no further than Tolka Park where he guided Derry to an impressive 1-0 win last season thanks to a Duffy wondergoal, and he will hope someone provides another piece of magic that could deliver a much-needed reprieve.

It was also the scene of Lynch's first involvement as a manager in the League of Ireland when his Derry team suffered a baptism of fire in a heavy 3-1 loss on the opening night of the 2025 campaign as the floodlights dramatically went out at Tolka.

In the last meeting between the teams last March Shelbourne edged a 2-1 victory at Brandywell with a winning goal from ex-Candy Stripe Daniel Kelly and Lynch is hoping they can make the most of the opportunity to 'put it right'.

"They're a top side," said Lynch. "There's no doubt they have good players. Everybody knows about Harry Wood and they've got strength and depth all over the pitch.

"We've done okay down there [Tolka] in the last couple of occasions apart from the first game of last season. But we're well aware of their threat. They obviously came to our place earlier in the season and we felt a bit hard done by. That's something we have an opportunity to put right."

Lynch fully understands the current mood surrounding the club as his team stumbled at the start-line in the race for the league title. Shels and Derry were expected to be two of the protagonists in the title race but have both struggled. A defeat for either team on Friday night would be significant.

"Unfortunately, that's just the way this league is. Two wins changes your season. Two defeats gives you everything to fight for. But your concentration is Shelbourne on Friday night. Getting our game plan that we've been working hard on all week."

The City boss believes his team can take some confidence from the previous two performances against Sligo Rovers [0-0] and Dundalk [2-2] - two 'hard fought' points.

"There are no easy games in this league. There's probably a lot of disappointment but even looking at the last two away games, they could have been better in certain areas. Coming away from both those fixtures with two really hard fought points and we're going to try and build on that on Friday night."

Could a much-needed win spark a revival in fortunes?

"You hope so. You make your own luck in this game, we all know that, but this is a group of players who have been kicked in the teeth week after week with a new injury and having to chop and change as often as we've had to chop and change. But they roll their sleeves up and get on with it.

"We, as a group, take the criticism. Listen we don't shy away from any criticism that comes our way. We'll take it squarely on the chin. We just have to keep working hard to try and put it right."

He has no concerns about his players' mentality or their willingness to fight their way out of trouble.

"The best indicator of a team is how hard they work and they certainly don't need to be coaxed day-in, day-out to do the work. Even on Friday night we were hugely disappointed with the second goal we conceded. Again the first goal was scored from 25 or 30 yards out. Being hyper-critical, we could've probably got to the ball a little bit quicker but we were disappointed in the second goal that let them back into the game and that we didn't hold on to take all three points.

"You see the work ethic in that group of boys, throwing themselves in front of the ball. Again, I don't have any complaints from that end. There's bits and pieces of things we need to do better in both boxes. But those are things we work on daily to put right.

"We’ve been down to Shelbourne before and won. We enjoy going to Dublin on the Friday night games and normally big crowds with a good atmosphere, so hopefully we can give a good account of ourselves.”