Derry City hero James Clarke closes chapter on 'special' Celtic Park love affair

​Clarke had already written himself into the history books by scoring the first ever League of Ireland goal at Derry's GAA grounds in the first of five matches Derry City played at the venue - a 1-0 victory over champions Shamrock Rovers.

And his love affair with the stadium continued on Friday as he bagged a brace of goals against his former club Bohemians in a stunning 4-1 thumping of the Dubliners.

It could've been a magical send-off for Clarke had he converted the penalty to complete his first ever professional hat-trick and perhaps the last soccer goal scored at Celtic Park. Nevertheless it was a special night for the Meath man.

And 24 hours later he was back at the scene. This time in the stands swapping his Derry shirt for a Meath jersey alongside some of his Derry City teammates as he watched the Royals knock their hosts out of the All-Ireland series.

The win over Bohemians ended a seven match winless run and Clarke hopes it can be a turning point in Derry's stuttering league campaign.

"I was really happy from a personal point of view to get the two goals," said Clarke. "I set up Barrso's goal as well, although his was a wonder strike so I don't know how much I can claim for that," he smiled.

"It is nice I suppose to score against them [Bohs]. I wasn't sure what to do with my celebration to be fair. It was a bit subdued but I was really happy to score. I was there three years and had a really good time there but I'm with Derry now. Every game I play for Derry I want to do the best I can. If I'm scoring goals, it doesn't matter who it's against; I'm happy.

"It's just about keeping going at the minute and trying to get on the ball. Every game I go into I just try to impact the game. Whether it happens of not I always go into a game with a positive mind and today it worked out well. Hopefully I can build on that in the next few weeks.

"I'm disappointed with the penalty to be fair. It would've been a lovely way to cap off the game and our last game at Celtic Park with a hat-trick but I thought it was a really good performance from the lads. It was a really good result overall.”

The midseason break came at the perfect time for Derry who were struggling with form.

While this was just three points - a fifth win of the season - Clarke knows they must back it up when they travel to play at another GAA ground this Friday night, Pearse Stadium in Galway where he hopes he can have similar luck.

"Looking at it now, it was a frustrating time where the results just weren't coming and result after result can bring you down. It's a really good dressing room but if you're not getting results, it can bring you down.

"We came back and had a really good week of training and were really positive going into the game. It's olnly one result so we have to build on it.

"We need to get a run of games together; there's no point getting too excited over one result. It's all about next Friday night and the Friday, Monday games.

"Galway will be a tough test. They beat us earlier in the season, so we have to build on this. We have shown we are a team that can win games and be very good on our day but we need consistency.

"We have two away games and then we're going back to Brandywell and the grass pitch. We need to get results together because we're past the halfway stage now.

“We've been saying we need to go on a run. Galway is a really tough place to go to. They're really well set up and a tough team to play but we have to build on this result. If we can go there and get a win, hopefully, it can kickstart us.

"In the second half of the season, we have some massive, massive fixtures coming up. We have Europe and the cup coming up and we have 15 league games so there's an awful lot to play for.

"It's a really good squad so there's no reason why we can't put results together. It's the first of hopefully many more but we have to stay grounded and keep building on that."

When Derry went 1-0 down to Harry Vaughan's superb strike on 17 minutes with Bohs on top, Clarke admitted Derry feared the worst. However, the attacker claims the players found the solution on the pitch to turn things around.

"It felt like that on the pitch as well where maybe we were thinking 'here we go again'. They had a few chances and we were under the cosh a bit.

"We figured out the problems in the game ourselves really where I felt there a phase for maybe five or 10 minutes where they were bopping us around and then we sorted out the press and nicked the ball a few times in their half.

"Kev [Dos Santos] does really well to win it and picks me out. Once we were back in the game I felt we were the better team for the rest of the game.

"We went out after half time and tried to lay down a marker which we did. So hopefully we can build on that. Conor Barr, a shout out to him for his first goal and it was an absolutely pearler.

"I'm delighted for him. He's been really good since he's been in the last seven or eight weeks. He's looked like he's been there for years.

"And we might keep Mickey [Duffy] on the penalties just yet I really wanted the penalty to be fair but it was one of those where if Mickey wanted to take it I would've let him take it. Mickey was kind enough to offer it to me so I grabbed it. I missed it unfortunately.

"I'm a bit gutted, to be fair. It would've been my first hat-trick but it's all about the win. I just tried to hit the bottom corner but I should've dinked him or something. Anyway, what can you do? It was a good save from the keeper. We got the result and that's all that matters in the game. Goals are something I have to try and add to my game. I probably need to get more really but I'll just keep chipping away."