McNamee relishing Trabzonspor encounter

Minutes after the Europa League second qualifying round draw was made, Derry City players found themselves bombarded with new followers and messages on social networking site, Twitter, from Trabzonspor fans; a scare tactic, perhaps.

One Derry City player who will not be scared when the Candystripes face the Turkish giants, is midfield prodigy Barry McNamee. The Donegal native has had a meteoric rise to the pinnacle of the Irish game, which has included an FAI Cup win last season and a call-up to the Republic of Ireland Under 21’s more recently. But European football to McNamee is something completely different.

Speaking to extratime.ie, McNamee said: “This will be the biggest highlight in my career to date. Winning the FAI cup last November and getting my first Ireland Under 21 cap were great, but any footballers dream would be to have an experience of European football so this would top everything I have achieved so far.”

McNamee’s composure and creativity on the pitch is not necessarily mirrored by his off-field nature. The 21 year-old quietly goes about his business, such as his studies in Letterkenny Institute of Technology, quietly, and rather than getting involved in the Twitter antics of the opposition’s support, the midfielder sat back and instead of getting scared, got excited about the game.

“I can’t wait for the trip. It’s something I have been looking forward to since winning the cup last year, but obviously we have some huge games before these games.

“The atmosphere will be completely different to anything we’ve played in before. One just has to watch the European games on TV to see the passion of the Turkish fans, but we have to make sure to focus on the game and try to ignore the fans, if possible”, he said.

Trabzonspor are a talented outfit. Several high-profile players will face the Candystripes, such as Ivory Coast internationals Didier Zokora and Sol Bamba, Slovakian international Marek Cech and former Schalke midfielder Halil Altintop. McNamee acknowledges the quality the Turkish side possess, and was admittedly initially disappointed with the draw.

“My first reaction was one of disappointment, as I knew it was the most difficult tie we could have got, and maybe facing a different team would have given us a greater chance of progressing. But after a while I realised that this will be a great opportunity for us to compete with a club that have Champions League experience and have many full internationals”, he said.

Though McNamee refused to talk up Derry’s chances in what will be a difficult encounter for Declan Devine’s side, there was a sense that he is relishing the ‘underdog’ tag and the opportunity of toppling such a huge club.

“It’s a tough tie, there’s no doubting that. No one will give us a chance going into these two games, so maybe that will relieve the pressure off us. As a team, we just have to go out and give a good account of ourselves and work hard, and if we do that we will do ok. We have to believe that we can win over the two legs, and there’s no reason why we can’t, as anything can happen in football.”

Derry City fans will certainly hope that’s the case. After all, it’s been a long time since Gretna.