Derry City: Baby boom puts spring in the step of Scottish duo

​Winger McMullan and partner Keavagh celebrated the birth of their second child on Tuesday, two days before his mate Mullen and his other half Kelsey welcomed their second baby daughter, Freya, into the world.

The fact they live in adjoining houses makes it that little bit more surreal so Derry's attacking duo can offer each other some parental advice whenever needed or perhaps knock on the door to bail out their teammate if they need to make a timely escape from daddy duties prior to a game.

Both households will be kept busy over the next few months that's for sure but while he's delighted to become a father for a second time, McMullan knows it won't distract him from what's going to be a hectic few weeks in a Derry shirt.

The birth of his daughter, Maeve, certainly gave him a boost last Saturday with the ex-Dundee man involved in almost every meaningful attack in a morale-boosting FAI Cup quarter-final win over Shelbourne at Brandywell.

Mullen, who has a five year-old daughter, Sophia, was equally as impressive and capped a wonderful individual performance with a second half goal - his 10th of the campaign.

"It's going to be a change for the both of us. I think the both of us had a wee spring in our step after the week and hopefully that continues until the end of the season and we can celebrate with the two babies," said McMullan, who also has a 19 months-old son, Patrick. And he was delighted for fellow new dad Mullen for getting on the scoresheet.

"He deserved it. He worked his ass off. He held the ball up well and made good runs in behind. He continually makes those runs eventually the ball is going to find you and when 'Patch' (Will Patching) plays it in he taps it in and gets what he deserves.

"He's been playing really well for months now and he's been unlucky that Pat (Hoban) is the top scorer in the league and when we're playing with one striker it's hard to fit them both in. He got the nod on Saturday and can be very happy with how he performed."

Ruaidhri Higgins joked as he passed by McMullan doing his post-match media duties that the player would be staying in a hotel for three days in advance of a Friday night match to avoid the inevitable sleepless nights but the Scotsman has it all sussed out already.

"It will be a busy household but we haven't forgotten what we're doing. He (Danny) lives in the house joined onto me which is a wee bit too close for comfort for me," he laughed.

"Naw, it's great to have Danny here. We're gonna stick the girls and the babies in the one room when it comes to Thursday nights so the two of us can get a rest."

McMullan says Derry will put the FAI Cup semi-final clash with Bohemians 'on the backburner' for now as they prepare to welcome champions Shamrock Rovers to Brandywell on Friday night.

He's certain Derry can produce a statement win if they reproduce the type of performance they showed on Saturday.

“The next game is obviously a big game at home to Rovers. We want to continue the performance and form that we've shown on Saturday.

"If we can do that then there's no reason why we can't win again and put ourselves in a handy position,” added the ex-Celtic player.