Derry City's Colm Whelan looking forward to making Brandywell debut

Striker Colm Whelan admits he can’t wait to play in front of the Derry City fans at the Brandywell. Picture by Kevin Morrison

Derry City’s Colm Whelan insists he can’t wait to experience the Brandywell atmosphere.

The 22-year-old marked his long awaited Derry debut with a goal only four minutes after being introduced in last Friday night’s win at Cork City and he’s now turning his attention to a huge double-header at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium.

The Candy Stripes host St Patrick’s Athletic this Friday before champions, Shamrock Rovers visit next Monday evening, but Whelan is only looking as far as the Saints.

However the Kilkenny native, who suffered a serious ACL injury at Finn Harps last May, was quick to stress that it will take time to get up to full match fitness.

Kevin McLaughlin and Simon Collins discuss all things Derry City on the Derry Journal weekly podcast 'Talking Derry City: Everywhere We Go', which is available every Wednesday.

“Yeah it's a big Friday/Monday coming up for us,” he insisted. “But to be honest we’re only concentrating on St Pat's and we'll try to get those three points.

“Personally I’ll just be hoping to get onto the pitch and try to play as well as I can and more importantly, hopefully we can pull off getting the three points.

"Friday will be the first time being involved in the squad at the Brandywell and it will be the first time experiencing the crowd if and when I actually get on the pitch.

“It will be exciting for me and I’m definitely looking forward to it.

“As I said, it’s a big weekend for us and we just need to play as well as we can on Friday and Monday and hopefully pick up points to see where it takes us.

“The injury I’ve had means I can’t just throw myself back into things. I kind of have to build up the minutes and then hopefully I’ll be able to get as sharp as I can and give back to the team as much as I can. Hopefully I can score more goals, that’s the plan.”

Institute

The former Republic of Ireland U21 international admitted that 11 months of frustration went into the strike which flew past Cork keeper Jimmy Corcoran but was pleased with how sharp he felt after coming on at Turner’s Cross.

“I think it was 11 months of anger going into the shot but, look, it was very nice and as I said I was thrilled that it went in,” he explained.

“I was buzzing with my debut. To be honest it was the perfect debut for me.

“I was happy with the turn and the pass to Graydo (Ryan Graydon). I felt sharp, which was nice, and I was lucky enough for the ball to come back to me on the edge of the box and I was happy enough my shot went in, which was lovely.”

Whelan knew himself that he wasn’t far away from getting the nod from manager Ruaidhrí Higgins, especially after being on the substitutes bench at Dundalk.

“I suppose I knew I was ready over the last couple of weeks," he added.

“I was getting closer and closer to being involved in the squad and then at Dundalk it was the first time I was involved in the squad, so I kind of had a feeling that I might get on the pitch on Friday and luckily I did, which was nice,” concluded the Derry striker.