Michael Duffy brace sends Derry City to FAI Cup finale

FAI Cup semi-final: Galway United 0 Derry City 2 (Duffy 26, 56)Michael Duffy was the hero yet again for Derry City as his two first-half goals sent the Candystripes into an FAI Cup final against Waterford.The City captain was at the heart of a dominant performance in both halves, the first attacking, the second defensive, as Derry set up a clash with the Blues at the Aviva Stadium on November 8th.It is now 10 goals in nine games for Duffy since the departure of Tiernan Lynch in August. As a result, City’s season – which had previously been plummeting towards disappointment – now has the chance of a very different ending. Derry opened the scoring on 26 minutes, and there could have been little argument that it wasn’t deserved after a growing period of pressure on the Galway goal.READ MOREAdam O’Reilly found Darragh Burns completely unmarked deep in the Galway half, and the midfielder raced at goal before shooting towards the bottom corner. Pires Da Cunha did well to stop the initial shot, and got some luck when Wasiri Williams halted James Clarke’s rebound on the line, but there were too many red and white shirts lining up. Duffy was there to ultimately put Derry in front, heading home the second rebound for his 15th goal of the season and his ninth in nine games under Mark Connolly.Michael Duffy scores the opening goal for Derry. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho Galway attempted a quick response and Jimmy Keohane brought a brilliant flying save from Tom Norcott at the other end, the first time in the opening half-hour that the hosts looked a real threat.But it didn’t signal any change in momentum from John Caulfield’s side, as Derry continued to dominate for the remainder of the first half.They deservedly doubled their lead in added time before the break. A disaster from a Galway point of view, the hosts wasted a free kick in a dangerous area, and with the Derry area packed with players awaiting a delivery, City broke in devastating fashion.James Clarke hooked the ball clear to halfway, where Duffy brought the ball down before finding Ellis Chapman on the left wing. Chapman picked out the perfect return pass as Duffy raced in behind, and the captain made no mistake as he slid the ball past Da Cunha to make it 2-0 with the final kick of the half.In response, Caulfield made two changes at the break. Francely Lomboto almost made an immediate impact on his introduction as he used his pace to latch on to Keohane’s lobbed pass to go through on goal. But he was unable to beat Norcott, who did enough to turn it behind for a corner.Caulfield added Frantz Pierrot to his attack midway through the second half, and the striker had an opportunity to seize a lifeline when a free kick into the area was spilt by goalkeeper Norcott, but the ball bounced as Pierrot aimed it at the open goal, sending it high over the crossbar.Galway huffed and puffed, but with Patrick McClean and Jamie Stott at the heart of a strong defensive display, there was no sign of even a consolation, and the final whistle drew huge celebrations among the hundreds of travelling fans.GALWAY: Da Cunha, O’Connor (Wolfe 73), Barrett (McCarthy HT), Keohane (Connolly 89), Walsh (Pierrot 65), Bolger, Hurley, Twardek (Lomboto HT), Facchineri, Williams, Devitt.DERRY CITY: Norcott, Fleming, McClean, Stott, Dummigan, O’Reilly, Twisk, Chapman, Burns (Olayinka 78, Smith 90), Duffy, Clarke (Barr 89).Referee: P Norton.