The story Ruaidhrí Higgins' rise, from his years as a teenager at Coventry to FAI Cup success with Derry City -
Ruaidhrí Higgins was just 14 years old when he left Limavady to join Coventry City.The following year, soon-to-be-Ireland-legend Robbie Keane would sign for £6 million, in the process breaking the British transfer record for a teenager.
“It’s easy to turn around and say you were unlucky. I do feel I could have done more,” he tells The42. “I don’t think you can go out and achieve without dealing with setbacks. It’s a massive part of how you end up as a human being. Can you recover from them or do you roll over? Lorcan Doherty / INPHO Will Patching has been among the players to thrive since joining Derry City. Lorcan Doherty / INPHO / INPHO
He may never even have met Stephen Kenny, who Higgins praises effusively when the Ireland manager is brought up. Kenny in 2004 was akin to Higgins now, as he was perceived by Irish football watchers as a highly promising young manager with something to prove. “He was very studious and always asking questions. If you ask Stephen Kenny about him, he’s very knowledgeable.
“One or two people over at Coventry when I was younger would have dropped in that I’d maybe go into coaching because I was such a deep thinker of the game and was animated a lot and I looked at everything,” Higgins recalls. Yet Higgins retired relatively young — at just 32, his departure from Coleraine was announced after a frustrating spell with injuries.“Look at the career Ruaidhrí has had and the games he’s been involved in with Derry, through 2006, going for league titles year on year,” says Conor Loughrey, who currently works under Higgins as Derry’s first-team coach.
Higgins adds: “I was at a really good club in Coleraine but I had lost my real appetite to play and my attention [was on] trying to switch to the other side. And I wanted to get into that as quickly as possible. However, as has been the case with an unfortunately high number of Kenny’s coaching staff, Higgins’ time in international football was relatively short-lived.
After such an unpromising start to the campaign, Higgins’ impact was sizeable. Derry finished that 2021 season in fourth place, securing a coveted European spot in the process. “He needed somebody who could maybe not mentor him, but who he could lean on and who has been in his shoes and understands the role and especially being at your own club,” says Loughrey. “Rennie has been the manager at Waterford and Ruaidhrí being at Derry, it was his first job, such a big club, and especially when we started to do really well, the expectation was rising and being able to lean on Rennie to help manage through these things [was important].
Lorcan Doherty / INPHO Chairman Philip O’Doherty has been a key part of the Derry City success story. Lorcan Doherty / INPHO / INPHO The outlook appears similarly promising for the notable transfers this year, such as Colm Whelan and Adam O’Reilly, who have previously impressed at UCD and St Pat’s respectively.
“You’re just going for them and he wasn’t afraid to lose. Managers in the recent past have gone down to places like Tallaght and even Dalymount and been ultra-cautious because of the pressure involved in the match, the points available, and the precarious position Derry had been in for the last few seasons before Ruaidhrí took charge.
The approach has been highly effective thus far. The Candystripes built on an impressive 2021, making Rovers’ players sweat in last year’s title race while also sealing a first FAI Cup win since 2012 amid an emphatic 4-0 victory over Shelbourne in the season’s showpiece event. “I know the league will be the priority but he’ll want to go a round or two in Europe. Whether the squad is big enough and good enough to battle on two or three fronts remains to be seen but definitely, they will be up there challenging and I can’t see any other team giving Rovers as big a challenge as Derry.”
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