The top two collide at the Brandywell on Sunday afternoon in what will be the hosts final home game of what has been a successful season for Derry City. Tiernan Lynch took over in preseason and has had fair share of critics at various stages over the season. Despite this, he has his side mathematically in with a chance of a first league title of the century and a point away from getting back into Europe for the 2026 season.
Shamrock Rovers head up north in the midst of a torrid run of form. Thursday’s 2-0 defeat to Celje in the Conference League made it 3 defeats in a row in all competitions. However, just like the last 2 league games, a point will see the Hoops crowned champions. It’ll be a busy day for Rovers manager Stephen Bradley who along with assistant manager Glenn Cronin, will be running a marathon in Dublin for Oscar Kids Foundation- a foundation supporting children with cancer in Ireland. They are planning to get a helicopter to the Brandywell in order to make kickoff!
Key player: Michael Duffy
Michael Duffy has comfortably been Derry’s player of the season with his manager recently claiming that he should be called up to the Republic of Ireland squad. Hard to argue with a comment like that when you see he’s racked up 27G/A in league and cup combined. He recently prolonged the Hoops title coronation with a last gasp winner against Sligo Rovers. If Derry are serious about threatening to take the title they’ll probably need to win this game against a leggy Rovers side by a few goals. If they do, you’d fancy Michael Duffy to be involved.
Previous Meetings
Shamrock Rovers 2-0 Derry City 3/8/25
Derry City 1-2 Shamrock Rovers 23/5/25
Shamrock Rovers 0-0 Derry City
Key information
Kickoff: 15:00
TV channel: Virgin Media 2
Referee: Paul McLaughlin