Derry City hotshot Jamie McGonigle believes formative GAA experience helped hone his shooting skills

The 25 year-old Dungiven man is enjoying a hot streak in front of goal for the Brandywell club with four goals in the opening five league matches and recently became the first ever Derry player to score in five consecutive League of Ireland Premier Division fixtures as he carries on from his 2021 form.

Of Derry’s 11 points tally from their opening five league matches this season, McGonigle’s goals are directly responsible for SEVEN points thanks to his late equaliser against Dundalk, stunning stoppage time winner against Shamrock Rovers and his double in the 2-0 win over Drogheda United on Monday night.

Ruaidhri Higgins predicted Derry would have ‘a hell of a player on our hands’ should McGonigle, ‘one of the best finishers on the island of Ireland’, get a good pre-season behind him and it appears the City boss wasn’t far wrong.

The Dungiven native has emerged as a real Brandywell favourite and key player in Higgins’ unbeaten team after an off-season spent productively in the gym has added a physicality and ruthlessness to his game to compliment his accuracy and natural eye for goal.

McGonigle is more than the archetypal poacher though and his goalscoring highlight reel for the Candy Stripes shows his desire to shoot from all angles and ranges and on Monday night he showed how effective he can be playing on the shoulder of the last defender.

The former St Canice’s clubman afterwards pointed to the fact that each of his last five goals have been scored with either his left foot or his head, a stat which amuses the predominantly right footed striker.

Equally adept on both feet, McGonigle puts that enviable skill down to playing GAA as a youngster, something he’s adamant has proven beneficial in his soccer career.

“My last five goals, none of them have been with my right foot,” he exclaimed. “That one (his second against Drogheda) was left foot, the one before was left foot and it was a left foot finish against Rovers.

“A header against Dundalk and the last one of last season was left foot again against Dundalk,” he continued. “It’s something I never really thought about until I was just thinking through goals after the match. It’s mad,” smiled the ex-Crusaders and Coleraine hitman.

“I’m right footed predominately. I used to always be only right footed until I started working on my left foot during the past few years trying to get shots off. That could come from the Gaelic as well. When I played Gaelic, as weird as it sounds, I would always turn onto my left foot to shoot, I don’t know why. I guess it’s stood me in good stead.

“If you work on your weaker foot it gives you that confidence if you do have to go onto your left. I have no problem shooting with my left now as I know I’ll get as good a connection as I would with my right. It’s a great asset to have.”

That single-minded focus and insatiable appetite for scoring goals has so far served him well with over a century of senior strikes already and he’s the first to admit he’s obsessed with the numbers and setting targets.

His initial goalscoring target for the 2022 season was 20 goals and he’s made a hell of a start towards that particular goal following his recent purple patch.

“Goals have always been everything to me, trying to set targets, trying to get on the scoresheet week in, week out.”

That’s why he was so annoyed with himself at the end of the 2-0 win over the Boynesiders on Monday as he felt he should’ve buried his chance in the first half when Shane McEleney found his run with a stunning pass over the defence. And yet he’s not one to let his head drop if he misses a gilt-edged chance in front of the posts.

“I was taught that at a young age, if you miss a chance you just have to keep getting into those positions and eventually it will drop. Even if you end up going through a drought as a striker, you always keep making those runs and then eventually they come like London buses all at the one time.

“I was speaking to Conor Loughery who was asking me about targets for the season and I told him I wanted to get at least four in the first round of fixtures. I’ve hit that now so I just want to try and get more and more goals.

“Jackie (Ciaron Harkin) was laughing at me in there because when I went in (to the dressing room) I was raging because I missed that chance in the first half which could’ve been the hat-trick wrapped up. That’s just the way I am, all about goals.”

With St Patrick’s Athletic arriving at Brandywell on Friday night, two of the league’s top strikers in ex-Bolton striker Eoin Doyle and McGonigle will be on show, intent on adding to their impressive starts to the season.

“Even when you look at the games between us last year they were really good games,” added McGonigle. “Hopefully I can get another goal or two on Friday night and keep the run going.

“Eoin Doyle is definitely a good player and scores goals. All goalscorers respect that and you learn off each other, watching moments and reactions but he’s a fantastic player.”

There’s certainly going to be an array of attacking talent on show at Brandywell tonight and the wide open spaces will lend itself to a facinating ‘spectacle’ predicts McGonigle.

“When it’s packed I love playing here. I think it’s the size of the pitch too and the spaces to run into. If this place is like it was against Shamrock Rovers as I suspect it will be then it will be a brilliant spectacle.”