The Derry City Bhoy who downed Glasgow Celtic

It’s the Brandywell club’s own ‘JFK’ moment, a Candy Striped historical signpost that transports most city fans back to 1997 in an instant.

Tuesday, July 15th 1997, to be precise.

‘Derry City 3-2 Glasgow Celtic’ announced shocked headlines. In a Celtic mad town, on a Celtic mad island, it’s not a result that would be easily forgotten.

“It’s one of those that, at the time, there wasn’t too much talk, just the usual media stuff, but now I seem to get it mentioned on a regular basis,” reflects the goalscorer, “Must be a sign I’m getting old!” he adds, laughing.

“A lot of people have told me over the years where they were when they saw that goal or how they found out - it’s nice to have that.”

The goal capped a fairytale 12 months for the then 20 years-old Coyle and for the newly crowned Premier League champions whose shock defeat of the Bhoys arrived only a matter of weeks after Felix Healy’s men had performed the same trick on the League of Ireland itself by securing an unlikely title win.

Heady days for a young player whose first full season in senior football was playing out like something from ‘Roy or the Rovers’. But one Coyle family member in Lansdowne Road that Tuesday didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at Ryan’s goal.

“I think we got one, maybe two, tickets each for the game - not bad considering I’d got about 350 requests!” adds Coyle. “My mum came down, my brother Donald and his two boys, Daryl and Aaron, came - I think most of Derry was there, in fact.

“Ironically, Donald, who’s a big Celtic man, was in the Celtic end when I scored. He had no idea what to do. He was standing among thousands of Celtic fans and his wee brother has just scored the winner against them, against his team. I still don’t know if he identified himself or denied ever knowing me! With me being a Celtic fan as well, I thought, ‘I can’t celebrate in front of the Celtic fans’ and in the end I went a bit crazy! (laughs).

“It’s not something you forget. It was Gary Beckett who dispossessed Jackie McNamara who was on my side but had gone too far inside. Next thing, ‘Pizza’ (Peter Hutton) was pointing for Gary to play it wide. Beckett slipped it perfectly to me and I remember my options being Pizza or Gary. Peter had already scored in the game and had enjoyed a great year so my plan was to look for him. I set myself up and was about to slip it but right at the last second thought, ‘I’ll never be in this position again, I’ll have a go’. I hit it as hard as I could and I think Gordon Marshall in the Celtic goal had been reading my intentions to square it, that’s why he was caught out by it.”

Pre-season it may have been but the strike cemented Coyle’s place in Candy Stripes’ folklore as Derry saw off a Celtic team littered with the likes of Paolo Di Canio, Tommy Boyd, Morten Weighorst, Tosh McKinlay, Andreas Thom, Darren Jackson and McNamara.

“At half-time, Felix was in stitches laughing. Normally, our changing room was full of big, vocal characters all having their say but this time no one was speaking, not a word. All I could hear was heavy breathing and boys trying to catch their breath but it was a great experience.”

Derry’s inclusion in a tournament designed to help improve Irish sides’ displays in Europe was the icing on the cake of a season no one expected. Well, no one outside the Brandywell.

And, amid the fixation on a goal that would be the fulfilment of many a boyhood dream, it is easy to overlook the contribution Coyle made during his Derry career.

Now living in Park Village, the Violet Street native played 75 times for his hometown club, scoring six goals and remains a fervent supporter. Indeed, his winner against Celtic became the high point of an upward trajectory that seemed to have marked him out for the Brandywell from a young age.

After lifting the N.I. Primary Schools’ Cup with Chapel Road PS, through Moorfield F.C. and then into Derry City Reserves, whom he joined at 14, trophies were never in short supply for Coyle, and when your first full season at Derry ends with a league championship medal in your pocket, you can be forgiven for thinking titles are won every year.

Yet, that title win remains Derry’s last and Coyle looks back on it fondly.

Pre-season, there was little fanfare surrounding Healy’s rebuilt side with few tipping them to do anything other than make up the mid-table numbers. Coyle, however, reveals there was always a quiet confidence within the squad.

“We had a few new signings. A couple of boys arrived on the new Bosman rule, the likes of James Keddy, Gavin Dykes and Tommy Dunne came, Tony O’Dowd was already there, and I think Richie Purdy. The new boys were asking us, ‘What’s the craic with bonuses?’ Thing was, we had never asked about it.

“The club came up with a structure but Pizza, being the captain, was dispatched by the squad to talk to the Board on our behalf. I don’t know what the bonus structure was but Pizza came back and said, ‘Boys, this is what they’ll do. They’ll give you X amount and a holiday if you win the league.’

“I can’t think how much it was exactly but remember thinking it was more than our usual weekly bonus would have added up to. The Board was maybe thinking it would save them money and they’d never have to worry about it but we said, ‘Great, we’ll take that!’. That was the confidence that was about that squad.”

Coyle made his debut the previous season against Drogheda in a 2-2 draw and had established himself as a versatile squad member by the time the league winning season rolled around.

“It snowballed from there for us but we were lucky with injuries. I remember Pizza getting injured against Cork City. It looked like a bad injury, and I went on in his place and we had Bohs coming up next. I got to play in that one and it’s a game I always remember. Bohs and Shels were chasing us and that game brought home the magnitude of the situation to me. Suddenly you’re playing against the likes of Doolin and they had a very good team. We won and put something like 11 points between us but had they won, with their game in hand, the picture could have been very different.

“It was a big one and knocked Bohs out of contention. Shels were still on our tail but they were never able to beat us in the league.

“I played everywhere that year - right-back, right midfield or central midfield. I remember that Cork game well. I came on and lined out against Dave Barry. I was this scrawny kid and remember looking at him and thinking, ‘He would kill me!’. He had hands like shovels but what a player.

“I didn’t get on the night we won the league against St. Pat’s but the Brandywell was bouncing. I had been on the week earlier against Shamrock Rovers. We were 1-0 down and I had a small hand in the equaliser. We could have won it that night but didn’t. It was the following Saturday that we did it and it was some night, the celebrations were something else. I had just turned 20 and it was like living the dream.”

Of course, the dream didn’t quite end there with his Celtic cameo and a ‘Man of the Match’ display away at Maribor in the European Cup still to come that summer but Coyle’s own Derry bubble did eventually burst with a move to Institute in October of 1998.

“I couldn’t fault Felix for giving me plenty of chances and plenty of football but he believed I needed a run of first team games with Omagh, Ballymena and Coleraine all interested. I even talked to Kenny Shiels about Coleraine but I initially decided to stay. Eventually, ’Stute got wind Derry were willing to loan me out. There was pressure on Felix at the time because our results weren’t great and a combination of things - a bad run of results, me not playing well and people turning my head a bit - it all made me think it was time for a change. I could never fault Derry or Felix though. I loved my time there and still love the club, it was just how it worked out.”

Coyle’s move to the Riverside, where he linked up with Paul Kee, saw him become an integral part of the Drumahoe club’s most successful period in the Irish League in a team that contained the likes of Ryan Semple, Graeme Philson, Raymond McGuinness, Paul Hegarty, Stuart Bratton and Stephen Parkhouse. There was also a trip to Beijing for the World Student Games where he represented Ireland.

Promotion to the Irish Premiership soon followed with ’Stute more than holding their own against the ‘big guns’ and earning a reputation for playing football the right way.

“Every year I was at ’Stute, I had someone phoning to see if I wanted to move but that happens every player and I was happy. I enjoyed how we played football and we were progressing. We played a good brand of football under Keeso and it was recognised throughout the league.

“After we won the First Division in 2002, we held our own when we went up, finishing mid-table each time. It wasn’t easy. I found the League of Ireland a bit tougher, yes, but there wasn’t much in it. The League of Ireland was more physical, every player there was able to hit you hard and you had less time on the ball.

“Felix and Keeso were two very different characters. Felix knows the game inside out while Keeso was still early in his coaching career at that time but he did loads on the coaching side of things that influenced me, especially now I’m doing a bit myself.

“Maybe timing is everything but some of Felix’s team talks were just hair-raising. There wasn’t roaring and shouting but he picked his moments to relay his message and, once he’d finished, you were fired up. Keeso was more about tactics and philosophy but both had so many positives even if they were working in very different environments.”

Looking back, Coyle can’t help but smile when he recalls how close his career came to landing at two other championship winning sides.

“There had been a chance to move to Portadown from Derry but I always took my family into consideration when making the decisions. Sounds strange but I genuinely did. My late dad and my brother, Donald, who is another big influence on me, loved coming to the games so I was thinking, ‘If I go to Portadown, it’ll be difficult for them. People were also telling me - it might even have been Keeso who wanted me to sign with ’Stute - that Portadown were struggling for players which didn’t sound appealing. Turns out they ended up winning the league. (laughs)

“Then, in 2000, while I was finishing my degree at Magee, I had an exam the morning after ‘Stute were due to play Dungannon in a midweek game. I told Keeso I couldn’t play because I had to study, well cram if I’m honest. Keeso begged me to play; he pleaded with me which was very odd for him but I told him I couldn’t.

“He only told me later that Roddy Collins had been coming up to sign me on his recommendation and the Bohs board wouldn’t sanction the deal unless Roddy had watched me in the flesh. Long story short, Bohs went on to win the League of Ireland that year!”

After a brief stop at Limavady United, Coyle called time on his senior career and has since moved on to coaching with St. Joseph’s GAC, Craigbane, and Top of the Hill Celtic Under 12s.

“I’ve no regrets, there are a million ‘what ifs’ in every football career. Maybe, had I been older, I would have had better tools to deal with situations that arose at Derry but I don’t think I’d have done anything different. I made decisions based around my dad and Donald. Other family members would always have come to watch too and that was important. Having dad and Donald there was important to me because both were always a big influence on me.

“I was lucky in that sense - playing local meant they were able to come to the games and that means so much. Now I’m doing a bit of coaching myself and I really enjoy it. It’s given me a whole new lease of life. I really enjoy working with the younger age groups. I’ve a really good bunch of young players at Top of the Hill Celtic and Craigbane.”

Wonder have his young teams heard the story of a Derry City player who scored the winner past Celtic?