Darragh Markey 'excited' to challenge for silverware after completing Derry City move

The 28 year-old former Drogheda United playmaker became Tiernan Lynch's first close season transfer when signing a two-year deal with the Brandywell outfit this morning and he's 'excited' about the new challenge.

After the heartbreak of missing out on European football last season with Drogheda due to Uefa's multi-club ownership rules, Markey felt joining Derry City, who play in next year's Europa League, was too good an opportunity to turn down.

"I'm delighted to be here," said the Dubliner who spent five seasons with Drogheda and won the FAI Cup in 2024 when defeating Derry in the final. "It's probably been going on quite a while now. I spoke to Tiernan probably around the summer time to be honest.

"I was still under contract with Drogheda at the time and we were still to play in Europe and the FAI Cup draw was still to be made. So it didn't have legs at the time but it was something I didn't want to fizzle out at the same time.

"And thankfully in the last couple of weeks Tiernan got back in touch to let me know it was still on. So it was just a matter of seeing if it was doable with relocation and stuff like that and thankfully it was all good and I'm delighted to be here.

"I'm grateful to be here now," he added. "I've two years here at Derry playing full-time with a great squad of players so hopefully it will improve me even more."

He's already got an FAI Cup winners' medal in his personal collection and he believes he's given himself 'the best chance' of adding a league winners' medal by joining last year's league runners-up.

"I've got an FAI Cup so it's just the league which is what I'd love to have and I'm giving myself the best chance to achieve that coming to Derry."

Markey becomes Lynch's 14th signing since taking over the reigns at Brandywell and the Belfast man believes the midfielder will fit in perfectly with his vision of next season's squad.

"We want to be a team that plays on the front foot," explained the Derry boss. "We want to be a team that excites the fans because that's what it's all about. You look at our last home game [against Shamrock Rovers] and how much the fans got behind us for the way we played and Darragh definitely fits that bill.

"We've been talking for a few weeks and it was a no brainer from his end. He sees the ambition of the club and sees what we want to do and where we want to go. He definitely wants to be a part of that.

"So it's probably been seamless and hopefully the rest are like this moving forward. I think he's excited to get in and get going.

“He’s got legs, he’s got energy, he’s good in possession. There are also things in his game we feel we can definitely bring out — getting more goals, more assists added to his game — and he’s excited about that. Even at 27 or 28, he’s a kid who feels he has so much more to give, and hopefully we can get that out of him.”