Derry City star feels team-mates '˜aren't p****d off enough'

The Lisburn man, who picked up the Pride of Northside Player of the Year accolade before Friday night’s game against Cork City, claims he is ready to sign a new deal with the Candy Stripes - but hasn’t been offered new terms for the 2019 season.

“As much as I want to stay at Derry City, I need them to show me that they want to keep me,” he insisted.

“I just got ‘Player of the Year’ and I am probably the most capped international in the squad. I feel I have had a good season and am playing the best football of my career. I should feel like the club want me here and, in my opinion, negotiations should have started a long time ago - but they haven’t.

“I was told I was getting a new deal but, then, that was the end of it. I should feel wanted because, as much as I do want to play here next season, I don’t get that feeling from the club. Hopefully I do get something sorted because I want to stay.

“The fans are great, it’s a great club but I want to feel wanted. I want something put in front of me that’s a good enough deal for me and I’ll be happy enough to sign it. But it’s not happening that way.

“So, if my contract runs out and that doesn’t happen, then obviously I’m going to have to get a job because I’m going to be out of work for two or three months. I’ll need to get something sorted and, if that doesn’t happen, then I might have to move on but I’ll take it as it comes.”

McDonagh, who played a major role in the Northern Ireland U21’s recent impressive European qualifying campaign, also criticised players in the Brandywell dressing room who, he claimed, seemed “happy to sit on the bench” and “don’t care if they don’t come on or not”.

“Against Cork, we didn’t look like scoring. We knew after they got their first goal they would sit in and soak up the pressure and let us pass the ball side to side. We had a couple of half chances but didn’t really look like scoring. To be fair, they got two lucky goals but they were champions last season and that’s what they do; they go a goal up and defend but it wasn’t anywhere near good enough from our point of view,” he added.

“It was one of the biggest teams in Ireland we were playing so why wouldn’t you want to go out and show what you’ve got and put on a good performance. It didn’t seem that way with some players in our team tonight. I think we gave up too easily and it’s a common theme within the squad.

“If you look at our bench, I don’t think anyone was too bothered to be sitting on the bench tonight. Players don’t seem that bothered if they are in the team or not. When you are not in the team you should be p****d off but I don’t think some people on the bench are p****d off enough.

“When I was sitting on the bench at the start of the season, I was raging that I wasn’t playing. I wanted to get on and, when I did get my chance, I wanted to prove to the manager how good I was and I did that, but I don’t see that in our squad.

“When you are on the pitch, you should show the manager and the fans that you want to play for the badge on the front of the shirt and play for yourself by putting in a good performance every week. That doesn’t seem the way it is at the minute. Everyone seems to have given up and just want the season to end.

“It’s difficult for me to say this but, in my opinion, our changing room want it (the season) to be over and it shouldn’t be that way.

“I don’t know why it’s like that, whether it’s the way we are performing or the way things are being handled, I really don’t know, but it’s just not good enough from us.”