The Candystripes, who suffered penalty shoot-out heartache against champions Bohemians in last year's final, begin this year's campaign with a home tie against junior side Ballymun United, on Friday night at the Brandywell (KO 7.45pm).

"If we go one step further in the cup this season that means lifting it and that would be brilliant," he said.

"The cup has come at a great time for us to be honest, because having had three tough league games in a week and having picked up maximum points, which has seen us haul back both Bohs and Cork.

"It also means they can now sit and stew on those results.

"At the end of the day Cork were seven points clear of us last week but we have put ourselves right back in the mix and we can now concentrate on the cup this Friday.

"We have set ourselves up nicely for the cup match but we know we can't get complacent and the confidence is high in the dressing room at the minute and we want that to continue."

Morrow, who netted twice in last year's showpiece game against the Gypsies, has hit a rich vein of form in recent weeks, netting three times in City's last three games and he hopes that run continues.

"I don't know what has turned but I'm glad I have turned the corner and hopefully the goals will continue.

"The manager (Stephen Kenny) showed a lot of belief in me and kept picking me whenever I was going through my drought and to be honest I'm grateful that he did do that.

"However I also knew that whenever I got my first goal then I should, and hopefully will, continue scoring goals."

With both Pat Fenlon's men and Paul Doolin's side dropping points at the weekend, Derry have moved right back into the title race.

"We have dropped some silly points earlier in the season and that is something the manager has been talking to us about before the game, so it was nice to get some back at Sligo on Friday.

"Both Bohs and Cork failed to get maximum points at Sligo, so we knew it was going to be difficult, but thankfully we got the victory and we'll now aim to keep our good run going."