Derry City's performance in last Friday's defeat to Shamrock Rovers bodes well for the club in the long term according to Paul Corry.

The Candystripes have largely excelled this season, topping the SSE Airtricity League table until earlier this month when consecutive draws against Bohemians and St Patrick's Athletic saw champions Rovers go one point ahead of them before their head-to-head meeting at Tallaght Stadium.

Ruaidhri Higgins' side dominated the first hour against the Hoops on Friday, creating a number of promising opportunities, but fell to defeat after Danny Mandroiu's winner with 11 minutes to go which means Derry slip four points adrift of the reigning Premier Division champions.

While the loss is costly in the short-term, former UCD, Shamrock Rovers and Sheffield Wednesday midfielder Corry feels Derry's current level, coupled with their potential for growth, should lead to optimism on the banks of the Foyle.

"The resources are there to actually add to the squad. They got good financial backing behind them so if they do need to bring in extra players or extra resources, you would imagine that the support is going to be there," he told the RTÉ Soccer Podcast.

"When you look at the squad for Friday night, it's quite a good age profile amongst the players. You're not looking at a team that's going to have to be chopped up and added to over the next two to three years.

"You've got a really good foundation of players who are probably coming into their prime supported by a number of players who have shown great potential.

"So if you can add to that squad, they're not going to be far off and if they can get (Patrick) McEleney and (Michael) Duffy back fit, that's going to be a huge bonus to them as well.

"Maybe it's a case that they go close this year and you'd certainly fancy them for a good run in the cup with the squad and the performances they've put in to date.

"But there's certainly signs that they're going to progress. Friday night was a clear indication that they've progressed a lot over the last number of months."

One thing that impressed Corry about Derry's approach in Tallaght was that rather than playing in a low block as most teams would do against Shamrock Rovers, Higgins' team were brave in possession and went at Stephen Bradley's outfit.

"Their energy about the park was brilliant. They got into Rovers' faces and didn't let them play out from the back which some teams do and went man for man in the middle and that probably shocked Rovers a bit," he said.

"But when you flip that around and you look at how they played out from the back themselves, I thought they were excellent. The angles they offer each other and the combinations they have with the likes of (Will) Patching and Brandon Kavanagh in midfield work very well."

Listen to the RTÉ Soccer podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences