The Town They Love So Well
Derry City v Shamrock Rovers July 8th 2011

I was a bit apprehensive about my visit to Derry City Football Club - stop 20 of 21 on my journey to every League club in the land. I was unsure about what to expect about my first visit across the border into Northern Ireland - my first in 40 odd years on this earth. Maybe it was the history, a vision of a city that had been amidst the height of the Troubles, the sectarian tensions, the fighting; Bloody Sunday and what reminisce remained among a city still divided by religion.

Religion.

James Larkin once wrote “I’d have killed sectarianism be it Catholic or Protestant.”

But I need not have been worried.

My visit to Derry, the Bogside and the Brandywell was as moving as I envisaged it to be, but for different reasons than expected. For apart from some murals, the odd slogan and the powerful white granite wall proclaiming “You Are Now Entering Free Derry” a testament to a proud section of a community who faced armoured cars parading in the streets in a time civil rights movements were dealt without mercy by the RUC, little seemed to remain.

If the Northern Ireland tourist board’s goal was to rebuild a city and re-erase the visual imagery in the process they’ve achieved their goal. In 2013 Derry will become a City of Culture, however the 40^th anniversary of one January day in 1972 will pass first, reminding a city of its past whilst it looks forward to it future.

I loved Derry. From the scenery on my way to Ulster’s second city (I’d travelled from Donegal having visited Finn Harps earlier in the day) to the genuine warmth of the people and the clubs fans. And talk about helpful!

From being collected at my B&B to being given a run-down on all things Derry by Eddie Mahon (who not only played for the club but wrote a book as well) there was a genuine love of the Candystripe faithful to talk about their Derry City Football Club, recall its history and offer great nuggets of information (the Glentoran Stand one is a cracker..You’ll have to get the book for that!)

The clubs programme is absolutely excellent and at £2 cracking value, plus it’s the only ground in town I could get a Hawaiian burger! I’d also come to a quality fixture- Derry City v Shamrock Rovers.

Both clubs going for the title and a solid crowd in the Brandywell. The first half was mundane but the second was simply the best I’d seen on my travels. Real end to end stuff with The Candystripes winning 1-0 though the Hoops goalkeeper Alan McManus made a mess of Daniel Rafferty’s shot.

I watched the game with a real legend.

Willie Curran had played on Derry City’s IFA Cup winning side of 1954 and at the age of 83 was still selling half-time tickets at the Brandywell. He’d seen it all. From playing in the Irish League, being shot at (twice), watching the Troubles when clubs wouldn’t travel to the Brandywell, the subsequent vote out of the league and the return to football, in the south, and the glorious treble of 1988/89.

Yet here we was, his place assured in folklore, selling tickets to the masses.

Somehow you just couldn’t see Carlos Tevez in the same role.

I spent the night in the Derry City Sports & Social Club among the fans and returned home with seemingly more money in my pocket then I went out with! I know they bought me drink after drink, but were they giving me money too!!!

The next morning before driving to Sligo, my last stop, I took time to walk about, leaving my trip to the new £14 million pound Peace Bridge until last.

Symbolic ,  beautiful and in time - iconic,  running the length of nearly three football pitches, it was a lovely walk...a perfect way to end a perfect visit to this city and completely blow apart and conception I had of Ulster’s second city.

I can’t wait to go back.

View from Serendipity House..my B&B just off The Lone Moor Road