FAI Ford Cup Final - Bohs Win On Penalties

Absolutely gutted.

I've been to a number of games where Derry have won on penalties and it was a great feeling, but losing on them is the opposite side of the coin, devastated after the match, and I'd say the players feel even worse losing on penalties. Gutted.

Well, the big day itself got off to a stuttering start, I headed in to Connolly to meet Scoops to get theDART out to Lansdowne, ended up getting a lift into the station, leaving me way ahead of schedule, and the bar in the train station wasn't open, bummer or what, OK it might have been only 10.50am but a drink wouldn't have went a miss.

So headed out towards the RDS area with Scoops and meet up with Ciaran, Big Daddy and The Hitman at around 11.50am, outside of Paddy Cullens, which didn't open until 12.30pm - real run of bad luck with the bars yesterday. So we ended up across the street in Madigans??? (not to sure about the name of the pub), where the Twins Neil & Darren joined us and the beer started to flow, about an hour and a half after my first sneaky beer of the morning before leaving the house.

We then headed over to Paddy's after a while, and ran into a few heads down from Derry (the bar most have made a killing). Photos from the bar and the match can be found here - http://picasaweb.google.com/willymccann/20081123FAIFordCupFinal.

Well, before heading over to the RDS, the pre-match cocktail had to be bought - which was great fun ordering in a packed bar, so we went for a simple one - Bailyes & Creme de Mont - lovely stuff, and great fun asking the barmaid for 8 of them, that round coming in at just under 80 quid.

So over to the RDS it was, we were in the Anglesea Stand, and I'd have to say it was a marked improvement in the RDS from the Cup Final last year, with the Grandstand up.

I won't do a match report, as I'm still pissed off about it and would end up having to censor it 10 times over, but one can be found here - http://www.derrycityfc.net/season/08/news/displaystory.php?storyid=411.

2-2 after 120 minutes of play, with us conceding a soft goal and a dodgy penalty. Both teams had great chances to win it in extra-time with both keepers making excellent stops, so it came down to penatlies - which I just read their now was the first time in 88 years that the FAI Cup was decided on penatlies - by jesus didn't we pick a bad time to lose.

Derry scored 3 and had two saved by Brian Murphy, the Bohs keeper - and their hero on the day, and Bohs scored 4 and missed 1 to lift the cup.

Stilled bloody gutted about the result, but it was one hell of a game to be at, with the attendance around the 10000 mark - with people reckoning it was close to a 50-50 still on fans with the odd neutral in the crowd as well.

I couldn't stay to watch the medals being given out, as I would have been standing there going fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. So it was back over to Paddy Cullen's for a few beer and also to try and get the feet warmed up, as mine felt likes blocks of ice.

And of course, yours truely had a deck of cards, so a wee game of Maverick was got going, with Big Daddy lifting the biggest pot of the day, around €16, and me not recoving too well from bets placed before the match.

There was a good bit of banter in the bar with both Derry & Bohs fans, the way it should be really, and I lived up my nickname "The Child" when I fell asleep in a packed bar - it is a true skill with which I am gifted. Afte that, it was a taxi hoome, after a great day out, just the result didn't go our way.

Absolutely gutted.

But with the performance the team put in, it can only give us hope for the new season, which at the minute is a bloody long way off, but bring it on.

C'mon the Candy Stripes

FAI Ford Cup Final - Game On

Well, 7 months after my last post, I get the finger out to post again. This will be the pre-match post for the final, the post match post will hopefully come sometime Monday(ish).

Date: Sunday 23rd November
Time: 3.00pm
Place: RDS Dublin

The season finally, the FAI Ford Cup Final see the mighty Candy Stripes take on the Bohs, in what should be one hell of an entertaining match. Bohs come into the game in impressive form after coasting to the League Title ahead of Pats in 2nd and Derry in 3rd, and are now chasing the cup for a League & Cup double.

Derry are chasing a Cup double after winning the League Cup for a 4th successive time against Wexford Youths, and go into the game knowing that they are the only team Bohs have failed to beat this year, we've played 4, won 2, draw 2. We drew 0-0 home and away in the League, won 1-0 away in the league and won 4-1 in the League Cup in the Brandywell.

Well, role on the Final, the buzz around the supporters and on Derry City Chat is something else.

The Dublin SC have planned to meet up in Paddy Cullens Bar in Ballsbridge for 11.30am-12pm tomorrow to get the vocal cords lubricated for the match. And following on from traditions of going to other matches, we will be having cocktails just before heading up to the RDS to cheer on the Candy Stripes.

Those in attendance will be

• Big Daddy
• The Hitman
• Scoops
• The Child
• The Twins
• Ciaran

Well role on 3pm Sunday. My bet for the match is Mark Farren to score first & Derry City to win 2-0, 90/1 odds in Boylesports, but I don't care what the result, as long as the FAI Ford Cup has to make a long journey up to Derry after the match.

C'mon the City

Finn Harps Poll - The Votes Are In

Well, the votes are in for the Finn Harps poll, with a massive 16 people voting, all 5 options got voted on and here are the results

9 Points - GD +7 = 11 Votes (68%)
9 Points - GD +5 = 2 Votes (12%)
9 Points - GD +6 = 1 Vote (6%)
9 Points - GD +4 = 1 Vote (6%)
9 Points - GD +3 = 1 Vote (6%)

After Friday night we are still on course to get 9 points off Harps, with Derry winning 2-1. Was listening to the match on iCandy - which is one hell of a service if you can't make it to the games. So a big that's go out to Niall and Maribor Kev for the commentary on the match.

So in are first 2 league games we've scored in the last 10 minutes to win the games. I think it was in the 2005 season when we lost out to Cork on the last day that we picked up a lot of points in the last 10 minutes with the team pressing hard right up to the final whistle to get goals, so it's a good habit to have if we need it.

Next up is Cork away on Good Friday, and thankfully RTE will be showing the game live, as I can't make it to it. Cork's always a tough place to go. In the last 4 seasons we've been down there 6 times in the league and have come away with 3 points, 3 draws and 3 loses. Cork are yet to win in the league with a 0-0 draw at home to Bray on the opening day and a 1-1 draw with Rovers on Friday night past, so it makes for one hell of an interesting game.

C'mon the Candystripes!

This Time Last Week

7 days later I actually get the finger out to do up a report on the Linfield game.

Well this time last week the spirits were up, I was in work getting ready to hit the road to meet up with Big Daddy to head up to Belfast. In a great mood, the league had just kicked off with Derry winning at UCD. Walking into work, flicking through the radio stations on Richmond Road, yeah the road of Tolka Park, stopped flicking when I hit Phantom FM, as they were playing Tennage Kicks - talk about getting into the mood early, there was me thinking this could be an omen - how wrong can one man be.

Met up with Gary at 2pm and hit the road for Belfast, a lot of talk about tactics and what team would be on the pitch at kick-off. Got into Belfast around 4.45pm and headed off to get a bite to meet. We were close to the Students Union so ended up in The Globe getting a pint and a bite to eat for £5, good deal on what, you'd stretch to get a Burger King meal in Dublin for that money.

Then we dandered up to the Speak Easy bar for 5.30pm, going on Maribor Kev's post on DC Chat top find out it wasn't open - damn you Kev. So ended up in the other pub, with no Carlsberg in tap so ended up drinking Beat the Wife, sometimes known as Stella.

There we ran into Sinead and Niall and a few others from the QUBDCFCSC and the anticipation grew, so come after 7.15pm it was off to the match.

The Match
What can one say that hasn't been said already.

Our defense let in 2 very soft goals to allow Linfield to go up at half-time, and the worry that our defense was the weakest link in the team this season was reinforned from Friday nights game against UCD.

Come the second half, changes were made and Paddy McCourt came on and was on fire, with 2 to 3 Linfield men around him at most times. Martyn made it 2-1 and Derry up'ed the pace of the game, Linfield were tirering and the hope were up once more.

Well on the post for the UCD man I wrote "Cometh the hour, Cometh the Man" - and this match the man was the useles bastard of a referee - giving a penatly for Linfield, which can be seen here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cjMvyNacbY, thanks goes to Vinny from DC Chat for putting it up. I think the words that spring to mind are "Diving Bastard" as in no way was that a penatly, and anyone who thinks it was needs to take their head out of their asses and smell the roses.

But it has to be said that the referee was awful through-out the game, my opinion after the game was that the man should not be allowed to ref an under-12 game never mind a Setanta Cup game. Was talking with one of the lads in work the following day and he said that Setanta should go across the water and bring in refs from either Scotland, England or Wales to ref the matchs, as then they wouldn't have to be worried about being biased, and also we might actually get a decent ref.

So the match ended up 3-1 to Linfield, I can't say that they didn't deserve to won, cause our defense wasn't the best and they created more chances than we did. But what I will say is that their players are great at time wasting, the amount of time's the players went done feigning injury from tackles, like they just got hit by a double decker bus was unreal. I don't mind time wasting when players take the ball to the corner flag, or goalies take their time lifting the ball, as that's all in the game, but the Linfield players were a joke.

The Fans
As always the fans were in good voice, with what looks to be around 1500 making the journey to Windsor Park and making some amount of noise, and I believe a good number of fans agreed with me about the Linfield players acting a wack when a chorus of "You're scum and your know you are" rang out with about 10 minutes to go. You could see that the Linfield players were not used to this at home.

Well, the drive back down to Dublin was a long one, and it's been a while since I was so fucked off after a match - one of the main reasons for waiting to do this write up, as if it had off been done last week, every third or fourth word would not have been a pleasant one.

The return leg in September will be a sell out and one hell off a game, and for one, I sure as hell intend to be there.

UCD 2 - Derry City 3

A number of the Dublin SC met up in the Montrose for a few pre-match drinks. You could feel the buzz, the long wait for the season to kick-off was almost over and hopes were renewed for the season to come. The Longford away match at the end of last season seemed so far in the past. The wait was over.

"Big Daddy" being his usual self, arrived later than expected, after him saying he was 15 minutes away from the Montrose, he arrived about 30 minutes after that conversation, but he was in plenty of time for kick-off, so we can't slag him that much.

Tickets were also handed out for the Linfield match on Monday night, adding to the buzz I felt before the match. And of course, I had to get into one of the photos, so asked a nice young lady sitting beside us to take the photo with me in - what the name of the Beautiful South song - "Old Red Eyes Is Back" - well in this picture he's back with a bang.

Well, after the pre-match swally it was time to head over to the Belfield Bowl, UCD's new ground, having moved out of Belfield after last season. And it has to be said, the Bowl itself is an improve, you feel a lot more secure bouncing about that you ever did at Belfield. But it pitch was not in the best of shapes. From my understanding the UCD Rugby team alos play their matches their so it's going to make it a difficult surface to play on, but the Rugby season ends soon I believe.

So, the game kicked-off, and as always, my match report is going to be short and sweet, as my match reporting skills are not the best, and I'll prove how bad there are in a second.

Derry got off to a flyer with Higgins scoring a peach of a free kick after 20 minutes, which I somehow managed to get caught on camera, it can be viewed here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNIvN-EfOcc, but be warned it's very short, as Higgins was hitting it as the camera rolled.

Then after another 4 minutes, whilst standing in the toilets, Farren scored to make it Derry 2-0, so there's no footage of that action.

UCD managed to pull one back before half-time. So when the half-time whilst went, the talk started. Now, to be honest I was delighted at being 2-1 up, as UCD away has never been a great game, from any of the matches I've been at over the last 4-5 seasons.

Had, to take another photo, as one of the Derry faithful we all now made the trip down, good to see you again Che.

The second half was a tough one, with UCD pulling it back to 2-2 with a fortunate deflection looping the ball over Quigley in goals. And then the worrying started, as I've said, never had good feeling playing away at UCD. Some good chances fell their way, but cometh the hour, cometh the man, and Pizza stepped up on the 88th minute mark to get the winning goal. More dodgy footage shot by yours truly caught the goal, - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGXTSN6UCuw, and you'll all be happy to here that we survived the Earthquake that happened after the goal. And don't mind the foul shouting in the background, that's just me.

So, the season kicks-off with a 3-2 win at the Belfield Bowl, can't ask for any better than that (well, maybe 6-0, but I'm not a greedy man). It was a tough match, and I'd have to say, I don't believe UCD will go down at the end of the season when 3 teams drop to make the new 10 team league next year. They are going to be hard to beat at the Bowl. There is a good thread on people's views of relegation on Foot.ie, and UCD are heavily tipped, but after Friday nights performance, I don't see it happening.

Better match reports can be found on http://www.derrycityfc.net/home.php and better views on the game than mine given above can be found at http://www.derrycitychat.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=1.

Ran into a few other known Derry heads after the match, including everyone's favourite bear, pictured above, although I couldn't get him to say the famous quote "I'm smarter than the average Derry supporter."

Andy and his friend Peter where getting the 11pm bus from Busarus back up to Derry, fair play to them and all of the rest of the fans for making the trip down to Dublin on a Friday night. It's the first of many this year as we play all the Dublin teams away twice, and we also have St Pat's away in the Setanta Cup.

Well, roll on Monday night, Linfield at Windsor in the Setanta Cup. I do believe we will have to play better than we did on Friday night, but kicking the league campaign off with a win is all that matters.

2007: The Year That

Wasn’t Good for Me @ Being a Good Supporter
Might sound a bit hard, as I tried to keep up to date with all the goings on, on and off the field, but I think I only made it to about 10 matches all season, which was well below the 25-30 matches attended in previous seasons.

I didn’t even make any of the really big games like the European home game or the League Cup Final, as always timing and money came into the frame – something that will definitely have to be rectified this season. Also me learning to drive and getting a car would probably help me get to The Brandywell a bit more often.


Wasn’t Good for the League
When Pat Fenlon came in for the 2007 season, I thought we got the best man available for the job. However, one of the lads in work, a life long Shelbourne supporter said to him he believed it to be a mistake, as Fenlon wasn’t that good a manager, but considering the money he had to spend at Shels, it would have been hard not to win the league.

Well it’s often you’ll hear me say it, but a Shels fan got it right and I got it wrong, as Pat didn’t last half a season and now he’s at Bohs for the 2008 season.

He didn’t leave us in the best of shape and then John Robertson came in to steady the ship. The ship was steadied but a lot of draws in the league until the end of August meant we stayed mid table and that’s how it was meant to be for the rest of the season. We ended up 7th, 31 points behind Drogheda United, who won the league for the first time, congrats to them.

But 31pts behind the leaders after coming so close the previous 2 seasons is still kinda hard to wrap your head around. Some people may say we were punching above our weight in previous seasons, but I don’t think that was the case at all.

Well, roll on 2008


Wasn’t Good for Me @ Updating This Blog
5 updates to the Blog in 2007, the last one being in May say it all. Considering how easy it is to update the Blog and the fact that I’m not to worried about the literally content, there were ample times last season that I should have updated it, but never bothered my lazy ass.


Wasn’t Our Year for Europe
With Shels being relegated for financial reasons, their spot in the Champions League qualifiers fell to us. Unfortunately the Champions League isn’t regionalised like the UEFA Cup, so we ended up being drawn against FC Pyunik from Armenia. We were at home first, where we played out a 0-0 draw. Unfortunately we could take the chances to take a lead into the away game. I watched the match in Fitzsimmons in Temple Bar, Dublin with a load of Derry lads down working in Intel for a year.

In the away match, I ended up in the same pub, watching it with a couple from Derry, we lost 2-0 to 2 soft goals, and the European Dream ended for another year. A big mention has to go out to the fans how were able to make it over to the away game in Armenia, as it was one hell of a hard place to get to, and coming back most have been a real downer, as anyone knows travelling back from a lost away game always seems to be longer.


Was The Year for 3 in a Row
League Cup – 3rd year in the trot we’ve won the league cup. This time round it was against Bohemians up in The Brandywell. I ended up watching it in the house on my own, how bloody sad is that. Kevin McHugh won the game in extra-time with a wonder goal that went on to win Goal of the Season on TV3. Kevin scored in every round of the League Cup. You can watch it here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NI-m1nQQFQ0 – all thanks goes to martyc1989 for uploading it. Check out other clips uploaded from him, some great clips of The Candystripes there to be watched.

Was Good For Killer Football & Setanta Cup Predictions Competitions
As always, I ran the ePL Killer football to raise money for the SC, and made around €250 out of the Killer alone, and it still continues into 2008, and I’ve found my form again in Round 2, going out after 2 weeks over Christmas, but with 40 people in, it’s another €80 raised for the SC.

Also in 2007 I ran a Setanta Cup Predictions competition, raising €90 for the SC and €120 being split 3 ways between the winners, each getting a massive 70pts (out of a possible 310pts), with Stephen “Haircut 100” Large flying the flag for the SC.


Stephen Kenny Returned
28th December 2007 – Stephen Kenny is unveiled as the new Derry City FC Manager. I believe this has somewhat heightened the hopes of fans for next season, although as he said in the interview at the unveiling, he believes the fans will also be realistic in expectations for 2008.

Dublin Candystripes Challenge Grant Thornton

The Dublin SC particapated in it's first 5-a-side challenge match of the summer against Grant Thornton Dublin (the compny I work for) out in Irishtown, with scoring allowed inside the box only.

The result was an outstanding victory for the lads from GT, cruising to a 17-9 win over the Dublin based Candystripes. What makes the result even more empathic is that GT played with 5 men, no subs, were as the Candystripes played with a squad of 7, having 2 roll-on roll-off subs. The squads were as follows:

Grant Thornton:
Mark
Doug
Nicky
Dara
Manus

Dublin SC:
Morph "The Hitman" Smyth
Stephen "Haircut 100" Large
Grame "Scoops" Taylor
Ronan "The Thug" O'Kane
Ciaran McCauley
Karl McCay
Will "The Child" McCann

GT got off to a flying start in the match, scoring six goals without answer, including a deceptive own goal by Ciaran and a couple of back heals and flicks from Manus. The Candystripes then forced their way onto the score sheet with a cracking own goal from Manus.

After that the Candystripes did tighted up a bit and almost kept pace with the scoring rate of the GT lads, although the fitness of some of the Candystripes, myself included was badly exposed.

With the score poised at 10-5 to GT, they then resorted to under-handed tactics with Manus taking out one of the least effective Candystripes, striking a well powered shot firmly in the McCann Crown Jewels. "The Child" went down like a sack of spuds and was barely able to make it off the pitch. Although this was probably the most comical aspect of the match, I don't view it in this light, as it happened to me and not someone else.

Back on the field our defense did tighten up a bit, but our attack couldn't take the initiative and start banging in the goals, with chances and first touchs not coming off effectively - the sign of a team playing together for the first time.

Then in the last 10 minutes GT upped the pace again and banged in a few more goals to make it a resounding defeat of the Dublin Candystripes. It ended up 17-9 to GT with some fantastic OG's, back heels, mainly from the lads in GT and quality strikes on goal.

Some positives to be taken away from the match:

• a cracker volley from Scoops from a pin point cross from Karl
• the passing got better as the game went on
• better movement off the ball, which will improve the more matchs we get in
• we started to create more chances, although the conversion rate wasn't the best
• my balls have finally dropped back into place
• winning the outside the box scoring 2-1, with a strike from The Thug and Haircut 100 scoring with a well placed free-kick (totally out of frustation me thinks) with Dara scoring a great low drive for GT after running the length of the field

The Dublin SC would like to extend it's thanks to Grant Thornton lads for the match and we'll consider a revenge match at some stage if we improve over the summer.

As for player ratings, I'll let the lads from both team post comments on this.

March Madness

Well the new Eircom League kicks off tonight with Bray Wanderers coming to The Brandywell. This is our first game in March and kicks off a period of 3 weeks in which we play 7 games, 4 League games and 3 Setanta Cup games which will take up up till the end of March. So it looks like we'll be starting the new league campaign the way we ended last years campaign, playing 2 games a week. So, a quick run down of the March Madness

Friday 9th March - Bray Wanderers @ The Brandywell (League)
The last time Bray visited The Brandywell, was near the end of last season, in what looked like a home win for the team, but what turned out to be a very frustrating 0-0 draw. In the other games last season, we played Bray at home early on and won 3-0, great result considering I had €10 on the scoreline and then we won 3-2 down at the Carlisle Grounds, was close this time with €10 on a 3-1 win.

Tonight I'm going for a 2-0 win to kick start our league campaign, of course any win would do, but with €10 on 2-0 at 9/2, it would be nice, with Kevin McHugh and Darren Kelly getting on the score sheet.

Monday 12th March - Drogheda United @ The Brandywell (Setanta Cup)
Now this will definitely be a tricky one in my opinion. The Drogs had the better over us in the 4 meetings we had last year, we beat them comfortably in the League Cup, but in the League they took 4 points off us in The Brandywell and beat us in United Park as well, although all the league games were at the end of a long season and the Drogs were on form.

In the Setanta Cup, they have already lost to Linfield in the first Group match, and I do think we can inflict their second defeat, I'm going for a 1-0 win myself, but that guess may change after the first league match results. As I can't make it to the Brandywell for the Bray game, I'll watch the Bohs v Drogs match on RTE.

Saturday 17th March - Sligo Rovers @ The Showgrounds (League)
What a day for a game of footie, St Patrick's day, and a Saturday afternoon kick off, we won't have many of them this year. Sligo will be out for revenge after their 5-0 drubbing in the FAI Cup semi-final replay last year. Last year in the league they did beat us 3-1 at the Showgrounds, so it will be interesting to see how this season goes fort them. I'll going to chicken out at this early stage in making a prediction for this game until next week.

Tuesday 20th March - Linfield @ Windsor Park (Setanta Cup)
In last years Setanta Cup Group Stages the honours were shared between the 2 teams with a 1-1 draw at Windsor Park and another frustrating 0-0 draw at The Brandywell. Linfield have currently played 2, won 1 and drawn 1 and top the group with 4pts, although we have a game in hand over them. I'm going to stick with my Setanta Cup predictions on this one and go for a very open and entertaining 2-2 draw.

Friday 23rd March - St Patrick's Athletic @ The Brandywell (League)
St Pat's are another team after revenge with us beat them in the FAI Cup Final 3-2 in extra time in what was a memorable match. Not to sure on St Pat's strength and squad depth, but I think they'll be in the running this year, but they'll come away from this match with nothing, but it will definitely be a tough battle for the Candystripes.

Monday 26th March - Linfield @ The Brandywell (Setanta Cup)
The home tie with Linfield and I think we'll run out 2-1 winners on this for revenge on last years 0-0 draw, and this result will keep us at the top of the Group 1 table. I'll go with Farren and McHugh to score in this one, if they both start.

Friday 30th March - Drogheda United @ United Park (League)
This will be a tough game, the Drogs did the best against us in the league last year, and our last game against them we lost 3-1 and it's also the day we lost Kenny. I don't think the result here will have any impact on where the league ends up, but I'd say the Drogs will be up there with us this season challenging for the title, I'd be happy with a draw here, and bloody delirious with a win.

Glentoran 0 – 1 Derry

Anticipation
When we wake up next Monday morning, we’ll be saying to ourselves, I can’t wait till Friday, the league kicks off for us with Bray Wanderers visit to the Brandywell.

Well yesterday morning, it was different, I woke up and the only thing on my mind was the Glentoran v Derry match at the Oval come 7.45pm in the evening. The start of the 2007 season for Derry. It had been a long 12 weeks and 1 day from the FAI Cup final over St Pat’s, the wait was over.

Headed in to work for a half day and the talk began, although there’s not that many Eircom League supporters in the place I work, almost everyone knows when Derry City are playing, might have something to do with me. The anticipation slowly built during the day and it really kicked in when the Derry jersey went on my back at 1pm, and I headed out to door to meet up with the lads.

Getting There
Met up with Morph “The Hitman” Smyth in town at 1pm, and got the Luas out to the Red Cow hotel to meet up with the rest of the lads. Stephen “No Nickname” Large and Graeme “Scoops” Taylor were already sitting at the bar waiting on food, so the grub was ordered and the day was about to kick off.

We had two cars heading up; Car 1 had Gary “Big Daddy” White driving, “The Hitman” riding shotgun and “No Nickname” and “The Child” in the back. Car 2 had The Twins, Darren McConway and Neil Karran, Scoops and Paddy “The Blonde” Ward in the back.

So Car 1 heading off at 2.30pm, with Gary White giving the rest of us strict orders to be at the door of the hotel at 2.30pm pronto as he wanted to hit the road ASAP. I have to admit I found this highly unusual as the rest of us were having lunch in the hotel and “Big D” is fond of his food, but that matter was soon cleared up when he brought out his Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends lunch box with his sandwiches and pack of crisps, and I was surprised that he managed to fit 4 Ham Baps in to it.

What’s Said in the Confessional Stays in the Confessional – Not Likely?
Well after “The Blonde’s” stint in Big Daddy’s Confessional (also known as the back seat of “Big D’s” car) last year with him confessing his undying love for Blonde’s it was my turn to open and mouth and firmly insert my foot into it.

After a good hour in the car, many a wise crack already passed, and Maverick being played, we were passing a lot of road works and “The Hitman” commented that the traffic always seem to slow down at this point even knowing they was no real need for it, to which I loosely responded “Sure it’s all the blokes slowing down to eye up the builders”.

Well 100 yards down the road “The Hitman” pipes up “What d’ya think of that builder Willy, he’s kinda cute!”, and the ribbing began, I’m hoping it will end some time around next April. My only saving grace is that I’ve already been nicknamed “The Child” after last years European Tour, otherwise It would have been Will “Bob the Builder” McCann.

Pre-Match Gargle
Well Car 1 ended up in Belfast just after 5pm, although we probably would have gotten there sooner if the car didn’t slow down all the time passing builders so that the lads could continue ripping the piss out of me, and we headed straight for the Odyssey, and “Big Daddy” headed straight to the Tapa’s Bar for some food and drink. And as always, when it comes to food, he made the right call, the grub was good and the pint of San Miguel also hit the spot. Then it was down the stairs for a few more gargles and to meet up with the rest of the troop.

A few beers were had and the Ryan “Ratboy” Smyth showed up from Derry with the match tickets in hand, and the anticipation went up another notch and then we headed towards the Oval.

The Match
If any of you have already read my previous attempts at doing a good match report you’ll know I fail every time, but hey, I can’t be perfect all of the time. For a much better match report check out CityWeb’s one at http://www.derrycityfc.net/season/07/news/displaystory.php?storyid=40

The match kicked off with Jennings, Rogers, Kelly, Oman, Hargan, Deery, Molloy, Martyn, McCourt, Bermingham and Farren as the starting 11. (shamelessly nicked from the about website).

Considering the Glens were mid season and match fit and this was Derry’s first competitive game in 2007, I thought we played very well. You could notice some of the rustiness that you would expect, like the odd stray pass, the first touch letting the players down (although I can’t really say anything about first touches, as if I try to control the ball in the box, someone usually ends up collecting it in the centre circle).

The things that did stand out in the match was the incident leading to Pat Fenlon being sent off, with the Glens Number 2 attempting to stamp on Paddy when he was on the ground and then squaring up to him when Paddy got up, to be honest I’d surprised the lad never got sent off in the match, as he did get a Yellow after that. Don’t blame Pat for going ballistic as the crowd was behind him on this one. From the new comers I though Dave Rogers had a great game and Bermingham did OK.

The game changed when Kevin McHugh came on for Bermingham, McHugh played brilliantly for us last season, whether it was on the wing or up front, and he didn’t fail us this time either, as on the 87th Minute when he rifled the ball into the back of the net after good work from Molloy and McCourt in mid field.

As always the Derry City Supporters showed up in force, the flags, the drums and the harmonica where all there, some good chants rang around the Oval, fav’s from this were

“Are you Shelbourne in disguise?”

“You’re just a small team from Belfast, a small team from Belfast.”

Of course all the old favourites were in they as well and the guys on the drums played all night.

That goal made the drive down to Dublin that much shorter, as you all know and probably have experienced, there’s nothing worse than having to make the trek back home after a defeat, but that wasn’t on the cards for the masses of Derry fans that made it to the game and long may it continue.

C’mon the Candystripes

Setanta Cup - 1st Up Glentoran

It's been 12 weeks since Derry's last competitive match in the final of the FAI Cup, where we all know they came out 3-2 victorous winners against St Pat's in Lansdowne Road.

Our first competitive match is in the Setanta Cup, where we have again been selected to play in the toughest group. This year the group consists of ourselves and Drogheda United from the League of Ireland and Linfield and Glentoran from the Irish League.

First up in the cup is Glentoran away. Glentoran are currently mid-season and have already played 11 competitive matchs in 2007, 4 Wins, 2 Draws and 5 losses, they currently sit 3rd in the Irish League 6 points behind Linfield. Both Glentorn and Linfield were in our group last year and against the Glens, we won 3-1 at home and lost 1-0 away. So hopefully come tomorrow night there'll be pay back for the defeat last year.

There's a squad of us heading up from Dublin for the match, and it will be my first time in the Oval, so hopefully we get the right result to talk about on our way back down.

Setanta Cup Predictions
To make it interesting and to try and raise some funds for the Dublin Supporters Club, I decided to run a Setanta Cup Predictions competition. We have 20 people entering, 18 predictions in so far, just waiting on the other two coming in tomorrow. So far, out of the 18, Derry are the firm favourites with 13 people saving they'll win the cup, 2 go for Cork, 2 for Linfield and 1 for Drogheda - although this might be slightly biased as most of the entries are coming from Derry fans.

Full predictions can be found here Setanta Cup Predictions . To view the file choose the FREE option to download, wait until the timer runds out, enter text and press enter to download. Out of 19 predictions in for tomorrow nights games we have 11 people going for a Derry win, 3 for a Glentoran win and 5 for a draw, with the favourite scoreline being Derry winning 2-1.

Bring it on, it's been a long wait for the start of the new season, but we are now less than 24 hours away, and hopefully we can build on the last 2 seasons and Pat Fenlon can continue his winning ways back winning the league.

C'mon the Candystripes

Match report and crack from the trip up in Belfast to follow in a few days time.

Killer Football - Round 3

In the off season we have moved into Round 3 of the Premiership Killer we are running to rasie some cash for the Supporters Club. The results of previous rounds are listed below:

Round 1:
Joint 1st - Kevin Costello (GT), Kevin McDaid (QUBSC), Will Ryan (AIB) - €50 each
26 entries - €110 raised for the supporters club

Round 2:
1st - Robert Foley (GT) - €90
Joint 2nd - Ahmad Younis (AIB) & Gary "Big Daddy" White (DSC) - €20 each
22 entries - €90 raised for the supporters club

So from the first 2 round it looks like lads from GT and AIB are doing well, and even a member of QUBSC has won more than any members of the Dublin SC. Gary White is currently flying the flag for the SC, coming joint 2nd in Round 2.

Round 3:
Started last weekend with 36 entries, with €130 being raised for the Supporters Club, and on Match Day 1 there was a massacre with 25 out of the 36 losing 1 of there 2 lifes. Luckily enough I didn't lose a life, so it's all good.

The question now is, can one of the SC Memebers come first this time - well here's hoping "Yes it can happen" as I intend to win it this time round with my superior footballing intellect, although cheating is always an option as well.

Big thanks this time round for Killer goes out to Mick McCourt down in Cork who roped in 9 lads for McAfee to joing in and Ciaran McCauley, working in AIB who roped in another 6 lads, but considering the AIB has a 1st and a 2nd in previous rounds, I don't blame them.

We even has 2 lads from up north playing this time round with Jay Crumley, from Ardglass (originally Top Of The Hill) and Thomas McCann from Belfast (originally Lecky Road).

In the previous round and this round, we had a slight change to the rule, in which if you don't get your selection in on time and get an Automatic Selection instead, we work are way up from the bottom of the table

Derry v Cork 17th November big match preparations

The Child in action reaching for his chair.

Pre the big match last week, the Dublin Supporters club met up in the Dungloe for a few pints.

Again the day started early with Paddy, who is still to put his watch back an hour, waiting outside the dungloe for it to open.

There were safety concerns regarding Willy"The Child"McCann and who was going to look after him. "The Child" wanted to put his pocket money in the poker machine but the bar man wouldn't let him do so unattended. So after a health and safety study it was decided he could sit on his own provided he used his baby chair, kindly bought by the Dungloe Bar for Will himself. They also had is "I'm the best dribbler at Derry City" bib ready.

It was hard enough trying to keep the girls away from Gary 'big daddy' White without the hassle of "The Child".

So if anybody is interested in being a babysitter then just come along to the final with your CV.

ePL Killer Football - Round 2

Killer Football, the rules, incase any of you are interested in joining in, or getting it going yourselves.

Rules:

• Start with 2 lives - €10 a head
• Pick a team from the weekend fixtures, if your team wins your lives remain intact, if they draw or lose you lose a life
• Each week you have to pick a different team until you have picked all 20 Premiership League teams - then you start again
• If you forgot to send in a team, an automatic selection going from the bottom of the league up will be picked (e.g. If Charlton are bottom, and you have yet to pick them - that's your automatic selection, if you have already picked them we move on to 2nd last place and so on until we have a selection for you)
• To make my life simple this time round, all Match Day Selections have to be in by 12pm on the preceding Friday of the Match Day - after that, none will be accepted and Automatic Selections will take place - this allows me to send an update round Friday afternoon so everyone knows who they want to win and lose at the weekend

The Early Blonde Waits For The Train

On Sunday 29th October Derry played Sligo in the cup and the supporters club were out in full force.

For Paddy it was an early start as he forgot to put his clock back and was at Connolly Station at 6.45.

After me and Ronan arrived we had some friendly banter with some Sligo fans then we were on our way. Darren got on the train at Maynooth and then the drinking started. The 3 hours on the train went by quickly and we soon arrived in Sligo. The Sligo fans that got the train give us some tips on what bars to go to and we were on our way.

Walking up the street we were pointed to a back door of a bar and on entering found a group of people who were out all night. So we decided to join the party.

At 12 o'clock the fans from Derry started arriving by the bus loads and the atmosphere started to build. We arranged to meet up with the rest of the supporters club and we headed to the hotel they were staying at were we got a bite to eat and a pint. When Gary had got his fill of making jokes about Paddy and his early start we heading back to the bar and meet with the rest of the Derry fans.

The match was an entertaining affair with Derry having the better of the second half but the state of the pitch didn't allow them to pass the ball with ease. The crowd was in full voice for the full 90 minutes and if Sligo had allowed then we could have had another 100 supporters easy with the room still to move freely.

After the match me an Ronan headed for the train where we met Paddy sitting waiting (again). Darren soon joined us and with Ronan eating is 12th bag of crisps for the day we were on our way back to Dublin.

Of course we still had time for one more joke and Ronan was the victim. As we were all nearly sleeping the train stopped at Carrick on Shannon. I woke Ronan and told him that we were a Connolly and to get off. So Ronan started to walk out the door and was outside before we called him back. Confused he sat down and fell asleep as the hangovers started kicking in

Gary "Big Daddy" White Profile

This week we are doing an exclusive profile on Gary "Big Daddy" White A.K.A The Luv Doctor. All the female fans of the Dublin SC have been desparately wanting to know about the big man hmiself - so here it is folks - the truth - the whole truth - and nothing but lies.

Famous words from the man himself:
Sitting in Ryans Pub, the bar tender has yet to switch it over to the match, Gary White walks in and Morph say "Gary, Bad news" to which Gary replies "What, they've ran out of food".

Photo's of the great man - exclusice pappazarri shots - who ate all the panini's.

Question Time with Gary White:
1. Who is your hero
Gary: Homer Simpson or Dale Winton, I can't decide
2. Favourite all time sandwich
Gary: I haven't invented it yet
3. What do you do befoe you go to bed at night?
Gary: As you lads, I have a sensitive bum so I add Johnson Baby talc powder to it every night - and I sleep like a baby
4. Female fans - is it a problem
Gary: Yes - they don't tackle me enough
5. The pros and cons of being Gary White
Gary - I'm a Derry Man and I'm Gary White, there's no pro's or con's to that
6. Is the pappazarri an issue?
Gary - I've never noticed, but people are following me for no reason
7. After Paris where is the Gary White convoy going to travel too?
Gary - Bundoran on the Gary White Appreciation Society Booze Up
8. What do you see as the real Gary White?
Gary - I see ku-fing fighting (over my beer gut) as the way forward
9. Hotdogs or burgers? the naked truth
Gary - see phot for answer - stop asking stupid questions. Mustard, hmmmmmmm
10. If you had no other choice - who would you tackle, Dot Cotton (Eastenders) or Blanche (Coration Street)
Gary - well a threesome with them two sexy birds would be magestic, but I can't see myself being that lucky - c'mon guys, like it would be easier to get struck by lighteninig

And What a Week to Come

So the week just past we had two high profile games, home to PSG in the UEFA Cup and home in the League Cup Final to Shelbourne.

Almost the same in the week to come

Shelbourne v Derry
We play Shelbourne in Tolka Park tomorrow night in the league. This is another massive game, and Shelbourne have a solid record at home in the league this season. 11 played, 9 wins, 2 draws, 30 goals for and only 5 against. They beat us 1-0 earlier on in the season in Tolka in the league, but we have also beat them in the FAI Cup in Tolka this season, the same scoreline 1-0 in August.

Shels are currently 7 points clear of us, but we have 3 games in hand, a win here would be a fantastic result, as they still have to come to the Brandywell, although a draw would also suffice.

Checking on the forum it does look like we will have a good squad down for the game, although some fans won't be able to make it do to other commiments next week, which is totally understandable and will be explained shortly.

Now, to be honest, I do fancy Derry to come away with a result from the game and hopefully I'm right. Checking on the web, Derry are 21/10 with PaddyPower and 23/10 with William Hill for a win, which is very good odds for us, so I think I'll be calling up to my namesake Mr Hill and placing a few pounds on a Derry win.

Whatever the result - it looks like it's going to be one hell of a match, and I can't wait to get to it.

PSG v Derry
The away leg in the UEFA Cup. Next week, Thursday 28th September, 9.00pm KO (French Time) Parc de Princes - and the Dublin SC will be there in force.

With Derry getting a 0-0 scoreline at the Brandywell last week, this match is very much open, and hopefully this will make people's minds up on going to the match. Although, to be honest our flights and hotels were booked within a few days of the draw - so we were going no matter what.

I've already been away to the Gothenburg and Gretna games and the build up to this, it has to be said, is more intense. Derry's 12th man will be in Paris in force to cheer on the lads on the park, in what looks to be one of the biggest nights in the clubs history.

I remeber when the draw was made for the first qualifying round when we got Gothenburg, if anyone had of told me that come the end of September I'd be in Paris, watching Derry play PSG, with a 0-0 scoreline already secured in the Brandywell, I'd of be asking him what was he drinking and any chance of getting a pint.

As Stephen Kenny said at the Gretna match, Derry City is the fairytale this season. The fans are loving it, the team are loving it, you can see that in their expressions when they celebrate in front of the crowds both home and away after every match this season.

Of course, with this being a European away match, there is some rules that myself and the lads I'll be travelling with will be observing:

• After check-in and breakfast at the Airport, it will be on to the bar for a pint and the cards will be out to get the Maverick going
• Once on the plane and the nseat-belt sign is off, the cards will be out again
• At some stage in Paris, we'll have to buy a deck off cards to add to our growing collection
• Cocktails are a must before the game, this follows on from the Hard Rock Cafe in Gothenburg and Yeats in Glasgow - I think this is now a definite pre-match ritual

To be honest, the only thing I'm worrying about is the kick-off time - 9 bells, late kick-off for us now, a few pints of water will have to be drank during the day to slow things down - although, the adrenaline will be pumping all day - so we'll wait and see - oh my God, I can't wait.

So the roll call for the SC - The Child, Big Daddy, Morphy, Ratboy, The Twins, Twin's 1 Da, Stephen, Pauline & Lauren, Paddy, Big Daddy's bro - do we call him Big Uncle then????. And I'm sure I've left one or two out, but if you've travelled with me before, you'll now that me membering details on travel plans is sketchy at best.

So what a week it plans to be.

C'mon the Candystripes

What a Week Just Past

Well - a long time since the last post on this blog - it's just not on - but my head hasn't been in the right place to get round to doing it.

What about the last week. Two massive cup games in the Brandywell in the space of 5 days.

Derry v PSG
Firstly we were up against PSG in the UEFA Cup First Round Proper. Man, what a night at the Brandywell - traveled up from Dublin on the day with 4 lads from the Dublin SC, Darren "Morph" Smyth, Gary "Big Daddy" White, Stephen Large and Alan Walsh. (Don't worry Stephen and Alan, I'm sure you get landed with nicknames in the near future.)

Now, it has to be said, although I do strongly believe that Maverick is a great traveling game - it really sucks when I'm playing it on the way to Derry, were on two trips up, loses of €50 and €2o occurred, and Big Daddy played a huge part in them loses.

Anyhow, back to the game, the atmospherere, buzz, feeling around the Brandywell was immense, without doubt one of the biggest games in Derry City's history and a great game to be at. The eleven lads out on the field played their hearts out, Killian Brennan hitting the crossbar after 15 minutes with a superb volley, Kevin McHugh getting pulled down in the box and the ref not having the balls to give what was a stone cold penalty.

At the back there was some great defensive play with 2 clearances off the line and quite a number of saves made from Forde.

One part in these games that always stand out in my mind is the fans staying behind 20-30 minutes after the game calling out Stephen Kenny's name. It's great seeing TV interviews later on with Stephen talking and all you can here in the background is "There's only one Stephen Kenny, there's only one Stephen Kenny, walking along, singing a song, walking in the City Wonderland." And want an interview after the game, Kenny saying that PSG changed their approach in the game, played a more physical game, and then said they'd play a more open game in Paris, which would suit Derry's style of play better. It's been said a thousand times already, but the man is a LEGEND.

Derry v Shelbourne
League Cup Final, some changes to the team, Pat Jennings left out after keeping clean sheets in every game up to the final. Kenny came out and said it was a hard decision, but it had to be made.

Also quite an emotional night, with a minutes silence before the game for Gareth McGlynn's father Sean, who passed away at the weekend, may he rest in peace.

Due to two old chestnuts Time and Money (didn't have the money and couldn't afford the time off work) I wasn't able to make it up from Dublin to game. Instead, a strong contingent of the Dublin Supporters Club watched the game in Ryan's pub in Dublin, our usual haunt for SC meetings. The roll call Gary, Morph, his better half Gillian (although that's not what I was thinking when she won the sweepstake we had going), Paddy, Gareth, Graham, Davy, Paddy, Paddy Kavena, Graham, Rolan, Stephen and of course myself.

The banter was good craic, and the beer was flowing (which is never good when you mix me, watching football and drinking beer, as it usually gets messy, or should I say, I usually get messy). Chances at both ends, the clearest during the 90 minutes falling to the head off Darren Kelly who hit just wide.

The game looked like it was heading to extra-time when the first disaster (maybe a strong word, but when you're watching the match, it's the first thing that springs to mind) happened. Forde came out to clear outside the box and the ball hits off his hand when he goes to clear - and the ref has no hesitation in sending Forde off. Pat Jennings then get's his chance, and we make it to extra time.

In extra time the second disaster (read above) happens, with Killian Brennan getting sent off for lunging in. Now there's been a great debate about this on the DerryCityChat forum, Heary did get out of the way, no contact was made, but Killian did slide in with studs showing, the ref gave a red card, and I won't fault him for that. But Heary retaliating by punching Killian in the balls and the ref or linesman, who had to see it, did nothing, you could see that Kenny, on the side lines was fuming with the linesman for not reporting that dig.

So down to 9 men with 20 minutes to play, Shelbourne trying to make the advantage of the 2 extra men bombed forward, but the defending by the 8 outfield players was resolute, and Jennings made 3 great saves in extra time to take the game to penalties.

Shels up first, Pat guesses right and says to his right hand side. Can't remember the sequence of the first two Derry Penalties, I think Deery was up first and the ball hit the back of the net.

Shels up again, and same result, Pat dives to his right and saves. Thenm Higgins steps up and the ball hits the back of the net.

Shels up again and Pat pulls off another save to his right - you'd have thought the Shels player might of decided to go to the other side, but hey, hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Darren Kelly then steps up, knowing if he scores, Derry win the cup, and scores he duly does. The Brandywell erupts, Ryans bar Dublin erupts and I'm sure there was bars all across the UK erupted when that ball hit the back of the net.

One of the best moments of the night was when Gareth McGlynn's number 14 jersey was draped over the Cup when the team collected it. It just goes to show the team spirit and bond between the team, the manager and the background staff - makes you proud to be supporting them.

Maverick

Maverick, Maverick they call it Maverick - OK, so a bad rip-off of a Madness song. Maverick is a card game that some members of the Supporters Club like to play when heading on away trips - to try and help raise some cash - but that plan can always backfire. Considering we've added a number of additional rules to the game - we though we'd post them for reference.

Maverick - The Rules

• First we decide the ante - usually €1 a head
• Each player is dealt 2 cards face up - deal round once - then twice
• When it's your turn you can bet anything up-to the Pot that you will get a card in between the 2 cards you have been dealt
• If you win, you take your money out, if you lose, the money goes in - but you do not have to bet if you don't get good cards
• If you pull identical cards, e.g. 4 of spades and 4 of hearts, you get a free shot of the pot, but you have to get another 4 - and that's Maverick my friends
• If your first card is an Ace - you have to call it high or low, 2rd card Aces are always high
• If you pull an Ace and call it low and get a 2nd Ace - you can't be beat
• If you pull an Ace and call it high and get a 2nd Ace - you need to get a 3rd for Maverick

Possible Hands - Winners & Losers
3 of Diamonds & Jack of Spades
You pull - 7 of Clubs - we have a winner
You pull - 3 of Hearts - we have a loser
You pull - Ace of Spades - we have a loser

5 of Hearts & Queen of Diamonds
You pull - 2 of Diamonds - we have a loser
You pull - 7 of Hearts - we have a winner
You pull - Queen of Spades - we have a loser

10 of Diamonds & 10 of Hearts
You have to pull either the 10 of Spades or Clubs to get Maverick

Additional Rules
Sure, it would be interesting if we couldn't make up some additional rules ourselves, these were made up before the Gothenburg home match and after the Gretna away match

All in on The Blind

• before the dealing starts you can call all in on the blind, this means that you are going for the Pot before seeing your cards
• as you are taking this risk - if you lose - you only pay half the pot
• if you get cards were it is impossible to go you get a bye e.g. 7 of Hearts & 6 of Clubs

So, sounds an OK game - sure, you couldn't lose that much. Think again, or ever better ask Joe and Seany who played in Gothenburg Airport when it got mental. At one stage, Big Dady, Ratboy and The Child were the only one's playing and the pot was €320 - it can be either a great game - or a real nasty one.

We even had ItalianPaddy playing the game in Frankfurt Airport on the way over Gothenburg. Although he came in when we were all half tubed on the German beer and made a small killing. How we ever got on that plane in Frankfurt I'll never no - but once we levelled out, the cards were out and Maverick continued.

Killer Football

Killer Football - what's all that about. It's a competition we use for fundraising for our club. We did have it running, with some minor glitches in the Eircom League until Dublin City dropped out of site and it became an administrative nightmare, so we've had to make the call to cross over to the darkside and run one involving the English Premiership.

So How Does It Work:

• You start with 2 Lifes
• It's €10 a head
• Each week you pick a team from the weekend fixtures that you think are going to win
• If they win, your lifes stay intact, if they draw or lose, you lose a life
• Once you select a team, you can not select them until you have selected all the rest of the teams
• If you forget to send in your selection, an Automatic Selection is made going from the previous weeks league table (e.g. Going on the first week, Chelsea would be the auto-pick, as they won the league, after a few weeks, it's whoever is top, if you have already selected tehm, it's whoever is second and so forth)

Previous Killer Football
At the start of the Eircom League we did run Killer Football successfully. We started of with 13 people in. Mick McCourt & Stephen Large ended up sharing the pot after 9 match days, when the rest of us had lost out on our 3 lifes (cut down to 2 for the new one as the Premiership Killer is easier)

Mick McCourt had the longest winning streak selecting 6 winning teams in a row. But this pales into the shadows when looking at the magnificient losing streak of Will "The Child" McCann, when in the first 3 weeks I managed to select 3 losing teams in a row and ended up on the scrap heap - I have to say - not one of my finest moments.

So who'll win this time round is anyone's guess, but our numbers have grown and we now have 25 people competing - so may the best man win - na, screw that, I want to win.

Gretna 1 - Derry 5

Well what can I say about this match that hasn't already been said, reported, written in various forums. It was truly an unbelievable night to be a Derry fan.

The Fans
The fans were over in force, vocal throughout the whole match and about 20 minutes afterwards. After each goal the stand erupted, people hugging and jumping up with those around them, whether they new them or not. I seem to be making more and more friends with every Derry game I go to, and running into lads I haven't seen in years.

The Team
I think the only thing I missed after reading match reports in about 20 different papers was a list of player ratings - for a result like that, you'd have to be giving them all 10 out of 10, even Forde with his heart stopping moments, but if it wasn't for his heroic saves in Gothenburg, would we have been here?

1-0 down after 12 minutes, their heads could have dropped, but they didn't, they kept their shape and kept to the game plan and it paid off, with 5 stunning goals, which I'll talk about in a bit. 1-1 going into half-time, and I've heard or read that the half-time team talk from Stephen Kenny was to advise the team of the comments made about the team from Gretna's management team - my God, did it work.

4 stunning goals in the 2nd half, and but ended Gretna's European adventure - it gave the fans something that they will remember for the rest of their life's, something that we'll be able to say in many years from now - "I was there".

The Goals
1-1 Darren Kelly
Pizza plays a superb ball from the centre circle out to Hargy, who's first touch was sublime, he swivels and floats the ball into the box and Darren Kelly powers it in at the back post. Great leap and accuracy to put it into the back of the net.

1-2 Kevin Deery
Ciaran Martyn fouled 30 yards from goal. Kevin Deery places the ball and places it in the top right hand corner of the goal. The placing was inch perfect, over the wall and into the corner the keeper was placed at - possibly the best goal I've seen in my life.

1-3 Kevin Deery
The goal above only rates as possibly, due to this goal, great work down the right, ball swung into the box and headed clear by Gretna. Up steps Deery to crack it with his right foot from 30 yards out into the top left, giving the keeper no chance. I'd rate this the best live goal I've seen in my life.

1-4 Ciaran Martyn
I actually missed this one, I was under the stand on the phone to my brother who was watching in Belfast. Now he's not a Derry City fan but he decided to watch the match and he says it was one of the best performances he's seen from any team in his life. All I heard was the stands above erupt, then he erupted down the phone about 2 seconds later. Martyn made a 20 yard dash with the ball at his feet, with some great control to take it round the keeper and cooly slot it home, past two defenders.

1-5 Ciaran Martyn
Gary Beckett plays a looping ball to the feet of Martyn who lets it run for about 5 yards before unleashing an unstoppable strike from 20 yards - again giving the Gretna keeper no chance.

The Verdict
What more can I say - unbelievable. If you haven't seen the goals, doirecity from www.derrycitychat.com has uploaded a montage of highlights from TV and video capturing the goals and the fans - check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WelpDm_Scd8 - breathtaking.

On Friday I picked up the Star and the Sun in Glasgow and then had great write ups about the match, with some classic gems listed below:

"And the only saving grace was the Irish champions ran out of time to rub even more salt into the most gasping wounds the biggest little club in football have ever suffered." - Bill Leckie - The Sun

"But fair play to the Croatian ref Marijo Strahonya, he kept the book in his pocket and tried to let it all flow. The only disappointment was when he blew for half-time. The pity for Gretna is he made them go back out again." - Bill Leckie - The Sun

"Gretna thought things couldn't get any worse but Deery followed up to show his shooting exploits weren't a one off." - Scott Burns - The Star

"The final insult came from the Derry fans who chanted, 'Let's all laugh at Gretna', as the final whistle went." - Scott Burns - The Star