DERRY CITY CRUISED to a routine derby night win over Finn Harps, who fell to a fourth defeat in a row.
Finn Harps 0 Derry City 5
A pair of penalties in the first half by Aaron McEneff fired City on their way to a big win, their first of the season over Harps.
Nathan Boyle, Lukas Schubert and Keith Ward added goals in the second half on a wretched night for Ollie Horgan’s Harps, who were without a goal for the fourth game in succession.
Austrian midfielder Schubert – who bagged a deserved goal late in the night – was the man who went to ground for the penalties, although replays confirmed that Harps captain Ciaran Coll was outside the box when he challenged in the 18th minute,
[adrotate group=”50″]Darren Corcoran, the assistant referee on the gantry side, flagged when Coll took down the scampering Schubert and the referee, Paul McLaughlin went to the spot.
McEneff coolly delivered the penalty to the bottom corner to open the scoring for City, who rise into second spot.
Two minutes before half-time, Schubert was fouled again, this time by former Derry captain Barry Molloy, and McEneff’s spot kick was a carbon copy of his first, almost to the same square of Brush’s net.
Eight minutes into the second half, Derry added a third. Niclas Vemmelund, the Danish defender, sent Dean Jarvis on his way down the left-hand side with a superb pass.
Jarvis’ composed cross was turned past Richard Brush by Boyle and it was game, set and match with over an hour to play at a venue now resigned to its fate.
Boyle spent the latter part of last season on loan at Harps, but returned to his parent club at the end of the term and was back here to twist the dagger into the Harps hearts.
Schubert, always a threat for the Candystripes, was played in by Ward for the fourth and Ward, only on a matter of minutes, deftly lobbed over Brush for the fifth.
This morning’s Derry Journal reported that the Derry manager, Kenny Shiels, had requested with the FAI for the game to be postponed, citing an apparent injury crisis as the basis for his stance.
Yet, when the team-sheets dropped only centre-back Aaron Barry was absent with Vemmelund, Jarvis, Conor McDermott and Ryan McBride all passed fit to start, with Jarvis in for his 100th appearance.
[adrotate group=”37″]It was Derry who began the brighter with Conor McCormack hammering an early warning shot into the paws of Brush.
The Harps goalkeeper had to earn his corn in the opening moments, getting his fingertips to a low effort by Boyle after Barry McNamee’s ball around the back of Keith Cowan opened it up.
Brush had to be alert again with only a quarter-of-an-hour gone when Josh Mailey’s back-header almost caught his goalkeeper out from Schubert’s tidy ball in.
Harps had began their season in March with a 2-1 win over the Candystripes in what was only their second ever League win over their old rivals.
[adrotate group=”46″]The subsequent 2-2 draw at Brandywell meant that City arrived in Ballybofey in the unusual position of looking for a first win a season over Harps at the third attempt.
And they got the goal their early pressure deserved when Coll went in, Schubert went down, Corcoran flagged and McEneff drilled home from the spot.
It was a case of déjà vu when Schubert crept into the box three minutes before the break. Molloy’s was a fraction late and McEneff was on the money again to put City two up.
Harps were struggling to find the high gears and Gerard Doherty was comfortable in dealing with the attempts of Sean Houston and Ryan Curran from outside the box.
[adrotate group=”70″]Harps were without the suspended Ruairi Keating, allowing Curran – who scored in each of the previous two games against Derry – the chance to shine against his hometown team.
But a familiar face in the form of Boyle netted the third and Harps, for the fourth game in a row, didn’t manage a goal with a close-range effort from Dave Scully that was dealt with by Doherty as close as the came.
Schubert and Ward bagged goals late in the night as Harps were left to ponder a heavy defeat that leaves them only five points above Wexford Youths, who defeated Longford Town 3-0.
Finn Harps: Richard Brush; Keith Cowan, Packie Mailey, Thomas McMonagle (Dave Scully 57); Ethan Boyle, Josh Mailey (Raymond Foy 62), Barry Molloy, Tony McNamee (Adam Hanlon 57), Ciaran Coll; Sean Houston; Ryan Curran.
Derry City: Gerard Doherty; Conor McDermott, Niclas Vemmelund, Ryan McBride, Jarvis; Lukas Schubert, Aaron McEneff, Conor McCormack (Harry Monaghan 83), Barry McNamee (Keith Ward 77); Nathan Boyle (Joshua Daniels 70), Rory Patterson.
Referee: Paul McLaughlin (Monaghan).
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