KuPS win is better than anything I achieved as a player, says Derry City manager Ruaidhrí Higgins
Derry City manager Ruaidhrí Higgins revelled in his side's famous 5-4 aggregate victory over Finnish opponents KuPS
Derry City’s Cian Kavanagh celebrates finding the net against KuPS with Paul McMullan
Derry City’s game against UCD has been rescheduled in the wake of their Europa Conference League success in Finland, a triumph that Ruaidhrí Higgins believes tops anything that he achieved as a player.
Still only in his second full season of senior management, Higgins has written himself into the Candystripes archives, becoming only the second boss in the club’s history to progress beyond two rounds in Europe in a single season, following in the footsteps of Stephen Kenny back in 2006.
Derry will now travel to Kazakhstan to face Tobol Kostanay, who sit in sixth-place in the country’s Premier League, with a place in the Europa Conference League within the realms of possibility now.
Tomorrow’s scheduled game against UCD has been moved to September 6.
And City will play their next ‘home’ European tie at Dublin’s Tallaght Stadium, as the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium does not meet UEFA criteria for this stage of the Europa Conference League.
Victories over HB Tórshavn of the Faroe Islands and Finnish outfit KuPS have put City in this extraordinary position, and Higgins is savouring every moment.
“It’s amazing,” he beamed. “It makes all the tough times really worthwhile, and there have been a few this season, there’s no doubt about that.
“It’s brilliant for our supporters, for our chairman, who has put big investment into the football club, our board of directors, the players, staff; it’s about unity in our football club and it was a special night.”
Goals from Cian Kavanagh, Sadou Diallo and Michael Duffy saw City edge out
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