WHAT DERRY CITY MEANS TO ME... An excitement we haven't witnessed for a generation!

Johnny with his sister Jeananne at the Aviva Stadium in November for the FAI Cup Final.

placeholder image — Johnny with his sister Jeananne at the Aviva Stadium in November for the FAI Cup Final.

Every football addict has a moment that got them hooked.

A high so memorable and exciting that it left them yearning for more for the rest of their life.

An adrenaline-fuelled experience that helped form the firm decision that this is my team now and I’m in for the long haul.

The Brandywell on matchdays is still full of men of my vintage for whom timing and circumstance meant the choice to be ‘City till they die’ was made for them.

Men in their 40s who, in the late 80s, were at a formative age where they were just beginning to understand the game and what it meant for a team and a community to enjoy success.

I was 10 when Derry City won the treble in 1989 and 11 when the Republic of Ireland reached the quarter finals of the 1990 World Cup.

I didn’t stand a chance.

I experienced my club and country at their peak in my first few years of being a fan and it is a high I’ve chased ever since.

In the late 80s the Brandywell was rammed with over 10,000 people every match day and thousands lit up league of Ireland grounds the length and breadth of the country on away days.

People talked of little else and the climactic weeks when we won Ireland’s only ever domestic treble were just dreamland.

I always found it difficult to fully explain to supporters younger than me just how football obsessed this town became during that period.

That changed just three months ago when the club reached the 2022 FAI Cup Final and those youngsters experienced that feeling for themselves.

We’ve been to plenty of cup finals before and even won our fair share - but this felt different.

It felt like another level.

The excitement and interest has been building since fans could return to the Brandywell after the pandemic and results and performances began to improve - but few could have predicted just how football crazy we all went before Christmas.

Winning the cup was class, it always is, but the emotion of walking into the Aviva that Sunday and seeing the biggest ever travelling support the club has had packed into the ground is what Derry City has always been about for me.

Being a Derry fan is that collective and shared feeling of a town and a community all pulling in one direction to give the team on the pitch the best possible chance of success.

Through my job as a Media Officer for our Mayor I was lucky enough to have a front row seat as everyone in the city played their part in our cup success.

School, homes and businesses literally painted the town red and white and did all they could to generate excitement and goodwill for the team in the lead up to the final.

I saw how the players connected with the fans and treated them as equals at the brilliant send off at the Showgrounds car park the day before the game and at the homecoming celebrations the night after, making time for each and every one of them.

I experienced the generosity, professionalism and courtesy of the club’s sponsors and network of volunteers and the often unseen work they do behind the scenes to ensure the team and management can focus on winning games.

I saw James McClean, a man still playing at the game’s highest level, as ecstatic as every other fan at the final whistle as Derry took over Dublin 4.

And best of all I saw a team save their best football of the season for the biggest stage of all, producing a performance level of high-octane pace and precision that I don’t think we’ve ever seen before.

As we head into the coming season there is a sense of expectation and interest that we haven’t witnessed for a generation.

The club has had a long tradition of playing entertaining, free flowing football and Ruaidhri Higgins, with the generous help of our chairman, has assembled a squad of technically gifted players who, on their day, can put on a show that no side in this league can match.

Derry City and Strabane District Media Officer Johnny Craig

We saw it in the cup quarter final against Shamrock Rovers and we certainly saw it that day in the Aviva.

Football is notoriously unpredictable, there will be highs and lows this season, but what we can be sure of is that this era has already heralded a new generation of young supporters who are now hooked on the Candystriped buzz.

Those youngsters, who helped swell the attendance at home games last season, are hooked for life now as well and will become the players, fans, volunteers and sponsors of tomorrow.

The new season buzz never gets old and the collective feeling of equality, pulling together, watching the show, chasing the dream and making memories is what Derry City will always be about for me.

Strap yourself in and play your part, it’s only just begun!