DERRY City’s Gerard Doherty knows his side’s game against Bray Wanderers at Maginn Park on Friday night will be an emotional affair.
The 35-year-old, who steps up from vice-captain to take over as skipper from the late, great Ryan McBride, admitted he was shocked at the outpouring of emotions for his ex-team-mate, who he described as a ‘warrior’.
“Ryan was an absolutely warrior, he was a quiet guy off the pitch,” he said.
“As soon as he put the armband on he was ready for war, he went out and led by example and we tried to follow that and we’ll still be doing that now.
“I couldn’t believe the amount people and the amount of well-wishers coming for Ryan, it just shows you what respect people had for him.”
Now Doherty and his team-mates must concentrate on keeping their winning start going against Wanderers as they aim to make it five wins in a row.
“It was just a natural progression, as I was vice-captain anyway,” he added.
“Kenny (Shiels) told someone and then it was out and, listen, it isn’t something I want to make a big deal about, it’s just something that’s happened for a crazy, terrible reason but it’s something I’m going to embrace.
“I was in two minds what to do and how to feel about it. I’m just going to try and step up and hopefully be as good as captain as Ryan was.
“Yes, at the back of the boys’ mind we’ll want to do it for Ryan, but then we have to treat each game just like any other. We have to try our best and try to treat it as another game.
“First and foremost, if every player has the attitude that they just go out and perform for themselves, then everything else will just fall into place.”
A number of tributes will be paid to McBride tomorrow evening and Doherty hopes then he and team-mates can get a victory for the former skipper.
“All the stuff about Ryan will definitely be in the back of our minds, but that’s where we have to keep it for game time. We can’t let it affect us during game-time.
“There’s going to be stuff before the game, a few tributes and things, but we’ll get that done and we’ll get it out of the way and hopefully then we can really focus on the game.”
FRIDAY (7.45pm unless stated)
Dundalk v Drogheda (7.30pm); Galway Utd v Sligo; Bohemian v St Pat’s; Limerick FC v Cork City; Derry v Bray; Shamrock Rovers v Finn Harps (8pm)
