Pat Hoban can fulfil many roles for Derry City, says happy boss Ruaidhrí Higgins

New signing Pat Hoban is set to make his Derry City debut

Derry City begin their 2024 pre-season against Darren Murphy’s Finn Harps at Ballybofey on Sunday afternoon (2.00pm).

The Candystripes then face Sligo Rovers at The Showgrounds on Thursday before travelling to Glenavon on Tuesday, January 23 and they are also in the process of confirming other games in the coming weeks.

New signing Pat Hoban is likely to feature at Finn Park this afternoon and boss Ruaidhrí Higgins is delighted to have finally got his man after weeks of negotiations.

“Confident of getting Pat was a bit of a stretch but I knew the one that I wanted and we’ve got there in the end, whether it’s five weeks or two weeks, we got the player that we wanted,” insisted the City gaffer.

“We have now got five weeks to work with him and he’ll fit into the group seamlessly as he knows a lot of the players that are here.

“One thing Pat thrives off are crosses into the box, and we had the most in the League last year by a distance; we had 17 crosses a game, which will make him smile. Hopefully we can repeat that again and we know if we can put good delivery in the box, there is no better man to get on the end of stuff.”

The Galway native, who signed a two-year deal after completing his move from Dundalk for an undisclosed fee, is the Oriel Park men’s all-time goalscorer having netted 150 times and Higgins hopes the frontman can continue his goalscoring form at the Brandywell.

“Pat has a lot of strings to his bow in fairness. He can play up against centre-backs, he can drop in and overload midfield, he’s a really clever footballer,” added Higgins.

“People see this player that gets onto things in the box, but he drops into clever areas and he can be hard to pick up