The magic of the cup comes to the Markets Field this weekend as high-flying Derry City are visitors in the 2nd Round of the Sports Direct FAI Cup. The Candystripes were runners-up in last year’s competition, losing out to Drogheda United in the final, and will provide a very stern test for Tommy Barrett’s side. The Derry club have been FAI Cup winners on 6 occasions and will be looking to add a seventh title this season.
The sides have met just once before, on 16th October 2022 at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium in the semi-final of the FAI Cup. Derry struck twice inside 16 minutes through Jamie McGonigle and Brandon Kavanagh, before Enda Curran halved the deficit from the penalty spot on the half-hour mark. Treaty almost levelled the scores late on through Willie Armshaw, but it was Derry who advanced to the final where they defeated Shelbourne 4-0.
Derry come into the game on the back of a surprise 2-0 defeat to Sligo Rovers last weekend but prior to that had been on a 4-match winning run including a 7-2 defeat of Waterford FC so Tommy Barrett will certainly be wary of the threat that they carry. They currently lie third in the Premier Division just one point behind 2nd-placed Bohemians. Derry have a host of top class players and Michael Duffy has been one of the top players in the League of Ireland for many years and is hitting the heights once again in 2025. The local boy has chipped in with eight goals and nine assists in 24 Premier Division appearances and will be a huge threat on the left side for Derry City.
Treaty come into the game on a high following an excellent victory over Cobh Ramblers at the Markets Field last Friday night. Goals from Connor Wilson and Mark Byrne gave the Blues a 2-1 victory. Tommy Barrett will have been delighted to have improved his attacking options with the return of Mark Byrne from injury and the signing of Brian Cunningham who made a very impressive debut from the bench, providing an assist for the winning goal.
Tommy Barrett knows that his side face a very tough task on Friday night:
“We’ll obviously go into the game as underdogs but the last time we played them we pushed them all the way so, hopefully, we’ll do that again. It’s disappointing to be missing the experience of Lee J and Karl for this game but we’ve been playing well and defending quite well. We can’t go into the game too negative, we’ve got to pick and choose our moments to play on the front foot, defend properly and be clinical whenever we get a chance”
The historic Markets Field venue has seen many memorable FAI Cup ties over the years. Back in 1967, the Markets Field clash with Waterford FC was an all-ticket affair with 7,085 packing the Garryowen venue to see Limerick record a shock 1-0 first round victory over a Waterford side which dominated Irish football at the time, winning 6 league titles in 8 seasons. Waterford enjoyed the majority of possession but a spectacular 30 yard o.g. from Waterford’s Paul Morrissey decided the game.
Six years later, Limerick recorded another 1-0 win, this time over Shamrock Rovers, with a Des Kennedy headed goal on the stroke of half time. It remains the only time a Limerick side has knocked Rovers out of the FAI Cup and meant so much to the regular and long-time patrons on the popular side of the Garryowen venue.
Another 1-0 home win against Derry would go down in history and let’s hope that there are some new memories created this Friday night. It all kicks off at 7.45PM and promises to be another great Cup occasion at the Markets Field
