Derry City

Having won the First Division title in our first year in existence, the new Derry City returned to the promised land of Irish football under the guidance of Stephen “THE KING” Kenny. 

 

Kenny didn’t take long to re-sign the players that worked to get the club promoted. Kenny also managed to sign Stephen McLaughlin from local rivals Finn Harps. He also signed Gareth McGlynn, Ruaidhri Higgins, Eamon Zayed (a full Libyan international), and with only one week to go before the season started Kenny signed Scottish centre half Stewart Greacen.

 

No Derry fan had heard about him but this proved to be one of the best signings Kenny had made as Derry manager. After promotion I was hoping for us to avoid relegation, but after seeing these signings, I was hopeful o a mid table finish. I was proved so wrong. 

 

There was to be many ups and downs of this great season. Four games into the season City only had 5 points and some fans thought this was going to be a poor season and we would be fighting relegation. But with the return of star player James McClean this all changed as we only dropped two points from our next four games. 

 

They also picked up two wins in the League Cup. Sligo Rovers then picked up their second win over us. We finished that game with only eight players on the field. We then went on to win three of our next four games including a 7-0 thrashing of UCD at the Brandywell. But City were in for a massive shock when Wexford Youths beat us 4-1 in the FAI Cup. This was a very long journey home as I could not believe what I had seen. 

 

But this all changed as City went on a 20 game unbeaten run. We went down and drew with St. Pat's. This was a eventful game as City striker Zayed was racially abused by a sections of the Pat's fans. Following this incident, there was more to come as Zayed was abused by Shamrock Rovers midfielder Chris Turner. He was handed a three match ban for ‘offensive behaviour' toward Zayed. St. Pat's were fined.

 

City also beat Bohs in the Brandywell; a game which saw Bohs manager at that time, Pat Fenlon, receive a lot of playful abuse from our fans because of his time in charge of us. City then recorded two draws against UCD and Sligo. We then went on and won our next three games including beating Shamrock Rovers 1-0 thanks to a goalkeeping error from Alan Mannus.

 

At the break of the season City were only a few points off the top and a lot of fans, me included, began to think maybe we will win the title as well as the League Cup, in which we had reached the semi finals. Winger James McClean was hot property with a number of teams in England after him. The strength of our squad was highlighted by Damien Richardson, as no less than eleven of our players were selected for the Airtricity League XI side to compete in the Dublin Super Cup. This, in my eyes, proved how good a season we were having.

 

McClean would never play for City again as the first week back after the break, Sunderland had a bid of £350,000 accepted for him. Throughout the entirety of the second half of the season, we only lost a single game. It took penalties to separate ourselves and Sligo in the League Cup semi-final, the shootout eventually favouring us over the Bit O’ Red.

 

In the next league game, Mark Farren returned from having a brain tumor removed; an emotional occasion. Myself and five hundred others travelled to Leeside to tackle Cork City in the League Cup final. Thankfully, an Eamon Zayed penalty was enough to secure the cup for us, and add another piece of silverware to the honours list.

 

After having the Rovers game moved due to the Cup final, we went into the tie just a single point behind them. It was winner takes all. We unfortunately lost the game 1-0 courtesy of a Rohan Ricketts goal. We ended up coming third in the league; an outstanding achievement considering we had only got promoted the year before.

 

I travelled to all the away games with the Pride of Northside supporters club. We all agreed that Stewart Greacen was to be named our player of the year. There is a lot of positives to take from this season including the great form shown by Danny Lafferty and Eamon Zayed, as well as the emergence of Tommy McMonagle who played in all but two league cup games. It would be great if he got a chance next year.

 

 As pre season edges ever closer, it would be great if the new manager kept hold of the squad from last season and maybe added a few into the mix but financial constraints may hamper this. Hopefully another great season on all fronts will come from Derry City. 

 

 - Michael Kerrigan, Derry City fan.