Judges Road menaim for six of the best

City of Derry are aiming for their sixth consecutive win this weekend when they host De Le Salle Palmerstown, in the All Ireland League 2A, at Judges Road on Saturday (KO 2pm).

Head coach Bevan Lynch is hopeful his team can overcome the Dublin based visitors who sit in second place in the 2A league.

The New Zealander wants the City men to build on their winning streak. After a long trip to West Cork last weekend City of Derry claimed a fantastic win over Clonakilty but looking ahead to this weekends game Bevan said: “This Saturday’s opponents are a handy outfit. De Le Salle are a very, very good team that are very well coached. This game will be a big test for us. It will be a defensive challenge that we will have to be at our very best to meet head on.”

De Le Salle Palmerstown have only lost two games in the 2A. They have scored a total of 209 points and have conceded 109 points. City of Derry have scored a total of 199 points but have conceded more.

Head coach, Lynch, is focused on the positive aspect of the scoring and believes that the last six performances will help with confidence.

“We have made some improvements in our defence. There is always ample room for improvement though. I am satisfied that we can defend well and the lineout has got better.

“We aim to make it very difficult for Palmerstown. We played very well defensively against Clonakilty and we were only troubled when we went down to 14 men. We were comfortable up to we lost Stephen Corr so if we cut out the mistakes we can win the game.”

With only three games to play in the 2A at home Bevan is still aiming at a top four finish. City of Derry are the fifth highest scorers in the league and the Kiwi wishes to sign off his tenure as head coach in style.

Speaking to the Sentinel about his remaining games in charge he said: “It is never about the coach. It is always about the individuals that make up a very good team. We have a very determined bunch of young guys at this club mixed with experienced guys.

“They all get on so well and I hope they can achieve great things. We have six games left and we can still finish in the top four. Picking up a win this weekend is vital to that target but we will have to compete hard and not give up field position too easily if we want to win.”

City of Derry have no injury worries ahead of the Del Le Salle game. Bevan believes that the very influential Bob McKillop will return to action and will have a fully fit squad to pick from ahead of this weekends diificult encounter.

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