Derry City exit not football related says Daniel Kelly after Shelbourne move

The 28 year-old winger - who signed for Shelbourne on Thursday - found it difficult to settle in the north west and a string of disappointing performances, coupled with a knee injury which ended his season prematurely, compounded matters.

He approached Ruaidhri Higgins mid-season and then Derry CEO Sean Barrett, explaining he wasn't happy and asked to be released from his contract at the end of the campaign before a move to league champions was on the cards.

Derry City obliged despite new boss Tiernan Lynch's best efforts to keep the Dubliner who was intent on returning closer to his girlfriend and family.

He's reunited with his former Dundalk teammate and fellow Ringsend native Sean Gannon and believes he's made the right decision to return south after a frustrating spell with the Candy Stripes where he scored just once in 26 appearances.

"I had a tough year up in Derry but being back home was my main priority and obviously when speaking to Damien [Duff] it was class," he said. "It's right beside my house and I'll be travelling in with Sean Gannon again. It was a no brainer really.

"I had a couple of options but it was late on. The season had finished and it was a little bit hectic. I was going away and was getting my agent to look after it. Once I got the go ahead to leave there were a couple of clubs interested but only one club I’d go to and that was Shels."

Upon his return from a three-week holiday in Australia, he was contacted by Lynch but the wheels were already in motion after Shelbourne made an approach.

"Basically before Tiernan had come in I had spoken to Sean Barrett," explained the winger. "I had spoken to Ruaidhri during the year as well a couple of times. I struggled up there mentally. I was on my own. My missus couldn't come up that much.

"I had a conversation with Sean Barrett and basically asked him if he would let me leave. It wasn't a footballing decision, it was outside of football I was struggling. To be fair to Sean, he was a gentleman to deal with. He backed me and just wanted what was best for me and my family.

"I was over in Australia for three weeks while it was all happening. Sean dealt with everything and I owe a lot to him as well. Over the course of time, when I came back from Australia, Tiernan had given me a ring and he wanted to try and keep me which was nice to hear but ultimately I had already made the decision to come back and agreed that I was leaving.

"I do owe a lot to the club to be fair. Even everyone behind the scenes, everyone in the office or wherever they all helped me through the year. I could name everyone but it wasn't a footballing decision. It was more the other side of it which I hope people can understand."

Admittedly his form for Derry wasn't good and while he was unable to train and played through the pain barrier with the help of painkillers during the summer months, he failed to hit the heights of previous seasons where he won the league and FAI Cup with Dundalk.

"At the start I probably wasn't good enough but I sort of got to grips with it a few months in but, individually and collectively, we weren't good enough," he said.

"It was my patellar tendon that I injured. At the start of the season it was there but it wasn't as painful. As the season progressed it just got worse and worse. I don't think a lot of people would've known this but I wouldn't have trained a lot from mid-season onwards. Even in and around Europe I wasn't training.

"Say the European game was on a Thursday I'd be coming out on a Wednesday and doing maybe half an hour of training and that was it.

"That was it for the next two or three months, on painkillers and trying to get through it because I wanted to try and give my all for the club. I don't think a lot of people would've known that but I did struggle in terms of the knee. The manager brought me to the club and I wanted to try and repay him but it wasn't to be.

"The knee then just got too bad and I had to get it sorted unfortunately, but I did try my best. I went over to London to get it scanned to hopefully get an injection maybe but they told me I needed surgery. I told them I'd rather try to get through to the end of the season if they could give me a programme, so I was on painkillers and programmes but to be fair to the surgeon he said I’d probably last about six to eight weeks. I thought I'd give it a bash anyway and six or eight weeks later I was done.

"I pride myself on numbers - goals and assists - and it just wasn't to be for me. At the start I’d a couple of chances and didn't take them and it sort of ate me up. I was trying too hard to get the goals. I eventually got the goal, the only goal unfortunately - against Drogheda. I was playing well and feeling good confidence-wise but the knee wasn't feeling good.

"I thought if I kept going the way I was going I could get a few more goals but one goal and four or five assists if you include the penalty up in Waterford. If I had got seven or eight goals and five or six assists I probably would've been happy enough.

"I know I usually get double figures but in terms of moving away from home, I was hoping to do well my first year and then the second really kick on. It just wasn't to be unfortunately."

There were several options to mull over when his departure from Derry was finalised but there was only one destination for Kelly. And when the fixtures calendar handed Shels a home clash with rivals Derry City on the opening night of the season, the winger wasn't surprised.

"I knew the fixtures were coming out and I hadn't got the Shels deal sorted at the time. It was basically done but not signed and when the fixture came out I knew what it was going to be. But that's football," he laughed, "I look forward to it. I'll probably get a bit of stick which is fair enough, I'm well used to it at this rate. That's part and parcel of it."

So with a new boss in place at Brandywell and much of the squad from last season retained, how does Kelly rate Derry's chances of making that final step towards an elusive league title next year?

"Derry is going to be really strong next year as well. I know losing the likes of Fats is huge but in terms of squad and starting 11 they will be really strong again," he predicted.