Derry City’s Ben Doherty laughs off Leyton Orient rumours and focuses on season ahead

Ben Doherty and Derry City face Institute in the Billy Kee Memorial Cup

Derry City’s Ben Doherty admits pre-season is going well and hopes to secure more minutes when they face neighbours Institute in the annual Billy Kee Memorial Cup on Wednesday.

The Candystripes secured a 2-0 victory over Darren Murphy’s Finn Harps on Friday evening thanks to goals from Mark Connolly and Doherty and the ex-Larne man was pleased to get more minutes into his legs ahead of next month’s big kick-off against Drogheda United.

“Look, that’s another match ticked off, I don’t think we’ve picked up any injuries against Harps, so that’s a positive, now we look forward to the Institute game,” explained Doherty.

“To be fair Deerso (Kevin Deery) has got Institute flying this season and they’re right up there challenging for the title. They’ve strengthened by bringing in the likes of Mikhail Kennedy and Danny Lafferty, so we know Wednesday night’s game is going to be another good test for us.

“As I said, all these pre-season friendlies are about making sure no one picks up any injuries and everyone gets minutes and so far that’s been the case.

“In terms of quality and how we want to play we’re probably a bit off that yet, but we still have a few weeks and a few games starting with Institute on Wednesday, to get back into the swing of things.”

Only last weekend news broke that League One side Leyton Orient were closing in on signing Doherty, a move which certainly caught him by surprise.

“No, that was just some fake news,” he explained. “It’s just one of those things that went a wee bit mad on social media. I came into training on Monday morning and the gaffer Ruaidhrí Higgins) was shaking my hand and waving me off, so I had to take all the banter