Jamie Doherty looking to find a response as Cappry hopes to turn their season around

Jamie Doherty’s voice carried the weight of a man searching for answers, his Cappry Rovers side left licking their wounds after a bruising 4-1 defeat to Ballybofey United.  

A derby loss always stings, but this one left scars. Cappry, who only two seasons ago were competing in the Premier Division, now sit uncomfortably in eighth place in Division 1, their season teetering on the edge of irrelevance. 

“It’s hard to take,” Doherty admitted, his words sharp with frustration. “We gave ourselves a mountain to climb after that first half. I told the lads at the break that we were second best to everything. It’s disappointing, very disappointing.” 

In truth, Ballybofey needed no invitation to exploit Cappry’s hesitancy. By half-time, the game felt like it had already slipped from Doherty’s grasp. Jack Long, one of the few players to show real fight, limped off with a hamstring injury, leaving Cappry rudderless.  

“He’s a big loss for us,” Doherty acknowledged. “We don’t know how long he’ll be out, but it’s not looking good.” 

The manager’s candour was unflinching, his respect for the opposition plain. “Fair play to Ballybofey - they wanted it more. You never want to lose to your local rivals, but derbies can go either way, and we have to accept that they got the result they deserved.” 

For Cappry, though, the clock ticks loudly. Two wins from six games don’t scream panic stations just yet, but the scent of relegation hangs in the air. Two seasons ago, they were mixing it with the big boys in the Premier Division. Now, they face a long winter fighting to stay afloat. 

“The type of league that it is, I feel that anybody can beat anybody on the day,” Doherty said. “For us now as a team, we have to dust ourselves down and get going again at training and see where we’re at.” 

This weekend brings a short trip to Cranford, themselves marooned in ninth. For Doherty, the stakes couldn’t be clearer.  

“Our record in Cranford is very poor, so we’ll not be taking anything for granted,” Doherty said. “The way we are at currently is we’re in a relegation battle. We need points and to do that some of us need to take a hard look at themselves after our game against Ballybofey United.  

Still, amid the self-recrimination, Doherty’s faith in his squad remained intact.  

“I know these players have it in them to compete with the best. We’re in a real fight at the minute and I know that there are plenty of good footballers in our dressing room, they just need to bring that fight to get us out of the situation we’re stuck in now.” 

The question now is whether that fight can materialise in Cranford, where no team is handed anything for free. For Cappry, this is no longer about pride. It’s about survival.