Bittersweet Brandywell comeback for Ciaron Harkin as Waterford give Derry the blues

However, the makeshift right-back on the night wasn't exactly in the mood to celebrate the landmark occasion at the final whistle as the Candy Stripes fell to a shock 2-1 loss to the Blues.

With Ronan Boyce ruled out through injury, in came the 29 year-old Creggan man who last made an appearance for Derry against Waterford back in June last year following his second ACL tear.

It was his first start since February 2022 and 104th Derry City appearance. He's hoping his 105th comes sooner rather than later and is marked by a victory.

"The positive side of it was getting back out at the Brandywell and playing," he said. "It's been over three years since I started a game for Derry City so on a positive note that was good but the result was the negative."

The game was lost for Derry during a first half where they simply failed to get started. A well worked goal from Kyle White - making his full debut - and a horrible goal from a Derry defensive point of view scored clinically by Radowski at the back post gave the Brandywell men 'a mountain to climb'.

And despite a host of chances in the second half which were scuppered by a wasteful City attack, Pat Hoban's penalty kick simply wasn't enough to get anything from the game for Tiernan Lynch's side.

"We just weren't good enough on the night," he admitted honestly. "We gave ourselves a mountain to climb with a bad start in the first half. We just weren't clinical enough in both boxes.

"We just didn't defend well enough in the first half, myself included. We had a chance to make it 1-1 and it was given offside. The second half we had plenty of chances to come back into it and we came out fighting."

Harkin, who spent the past few months on loan at Coleraine, was playing in an unfamiliar defensive role at full-back but he was just happy to be on the pitch. It's not my normal position but I'm happy enough to play anywhere. It's just good to get in the team and get a start in the team. So it was good to get out there but hopefully next time I'm out there we can get three points."

Harkin has played under Declan Devine, Ruaidhri Higgins and now Lynch since returning to the club in 2019 so how has he found life under the Belfast man so far?

"Things are a lot different now and for the good. It's a lot more intense and he doesn't accept losing football matches. Everybody is going in the right direction but it is going to take a bit of time. We'll get there and I've no doubt this group of players can achieve something special."