Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley hailed his striker Aaron Greene as the most "in-form" attacker in the country after his two goals set the champions on the road to an away win at the Ryan McBride Brandywell.
After a sluggish first half, the Hoops were ruthless early in the second, Greene stealing in behind the home defence to slot the opening two goals within five minutes of each other either side of the hour mark.
Shortly after, the champions capitalised on panicked passing in defence to seal the victory, Richie Towell sliding home the third. Pat Hoban's late consolation was immaterial.
Afterwards, Bradley indicated that Derry's aggressive pressing game presented opportunities for the champions - it was just a matter of the players spotting them.
"In the first half, the players were taking an extra touch when they didn't need to. The players recognised that at half-time.
"Second half, we really made them pay for how they were pressing."
Striker Greene now has six Premier Division goals this season, and more significantly, four in successive weeks, having netted twice in the 3-0 win over Sligo Rovers.
"He's been incredible," said Bradley. "We've been down bodies the last couple of months. Aaron has really stepped up. He's a leader on and off the pitch for us.
"This year, he's a bit freer in his mind. He had a tough year last year. His performances have been top class. Right now, he's the most in-form forward in the country
"We obviously have Rory [Gaffney] and Johnny [Kenny] coming back, which is great. But it's very hard to move Aaron out of the team when he's playing like that."
Runners-up in the league in the past two seasons, Derry have generally been pegged as Rovers' closest challengers, although neither title race went the distance.
Asked whether he saw the Brandywell result as a potentially significant result in a likely title race, the Hoops manager was non-committal.
"I'm not sure to be honest. We'll see come November. We felt we could come here and cause them real problems if we got it right. And we got it right in the second half."
On Monday, Shamrock Rovers have a chance to leapfrog current table toppers Shelbourne, who slumped to a second successive loss this evening, going down 1-0 in Galway.
Victory would lift them top on goal difference, though their last visit to Tolka Park ended in defeat.
"We let ourselves down there the last time, giving away some poor goals. We've got to make sure we're switched on for 90 minutes when we go over there Monday, because it will be a difficult game."
Greene, who admitted he should have finished the game with a hat-trick but for a first-half miss, struggled to come up with a reason for his current rich vein of form and instead praised his colleagues in attack.
Aaron Greene's exploits in front of goal see him scoop the SSE Airtricity Player of the Match award. pic.twitter.com/Pwpk0UnOgx
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) April 19, 2024
"Nothing has changed for me, really," the man of the match said. "Sometimes you get a bit of luck, a bit of form, so hopefully long may it continue.
"There are incredible strikers at this club – Rory and Johnny – and really good players within the team to get assists like Dylan's [Watts].
"Two passes for me today were incredible, and then Graham [Burke] very unselfishly squaring it to Richie [Towell]."
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