The pitch at the Brandywell and a spate of injury issues are the two main factors that have prevented Derry City from pushing on to another level over a longer-term period, according to former St Patrick's Athletic striker Eoin Doyle.
The Candystripes may be second in the League of Ireland Premier Division table but will rue that they are not more than a point further clear of a Shamrock Rovers side that have made what is now a characteristically slow start to an SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division title defence.
The last two campaigns have also promised much and delivered little for Derry - the emphatic 2022 FAI Cup win aside.
After a disappointing Easter long weekend, bookended by a defeat at home to Galway United and an away draw against an illness-affected Shelbourne, Ruaidhri Higgins' team appeared to have the wind back in their sails following a 4-1 thrashing of struggling Dundalk on Foyleside.
But last Friday, they were pegged back by a resolute Drogheda United in a 2-2 draw at Weavers Park and ten games into the new season, Derry have been unable to put back-to-back victories together.
Their results at home have been pretty good this season aside, from that aforementioned loss to Galway, belying the long-established issues with the synthetic surface.
But other than second-from-bottom Drogheda on the opening night and then St Pat's back on 1 March, visitors to Derry thus far have either been newly promoted clubs or bottom side Dundalk, which makes this Friday's clash against Rovers their sternest home examination of the season so far.
"They're still missing (Cameron) Dummigan and (Patrick) McEleney in the middle of that pitch. Now don't get me wrong, (Adam) O'Reilly and (Will) Patching are very good players but the other two are the ones that will win you the league."
Dummigan and McEleney have played just five league matches between them this season, for a combined total of about 240 minutes on the pitch.
While Doyle was unsure whether the 3G pitch could be a contributing factor to injuries suffered by Derry players, he added that McEleney had been impacted by injury setbacks prior to that during their time together at Oldham Athletic in 2018.
"I played with him at Oldham and he was in and out with injury and there wasn't an astro in sight," he said.
"But it's not going to help is it? Especially if you're going from different surfaces week in, week out. One week he's training on grass going to play against Drogheda for example and the next week it's the hard surface of an astro.
"And then the years he put in at Dundalk on arguably one of the worst pitches I've seen in my life - the standard of that astro is beyond atrocious - that can't have helped his body.
"Going back to (Derry), that pitch doesn't help them as a club. It definitely doesn't. If they had a nice grass pitch there and had something similar to Tallaght for example, they'd definitely be getting more points on the board.
"Their home record over the last few years has not been great, especially for a team that's supposed to be challenging."
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