Derry City's Mark Connolly hopes to make his late father proud with FAI Cup glory

The 30 year-old Clones man enjoyed a fantastic career at the top level in England and Scotland after leaving Irish shores at the tender age of 16 and his father played an influential role in shaping his early development.

Sadly Martin passed away in February 2021, aged 67, after a short battle with cancer and it fuelled Connolly's desire to return home to be closer to his mum and family.

On the pitch it's proven to be a rewarding decision for the former Wolves defender as he returned initially on a six month loan deal at Dundalk where he earned the SSE Airtricity/Soccer Writers' Ireland Player of the Month award for June.

Ruaidhri Higgins quickly snapped him up when he got wind of the player's availability from Dundee United in the summer transfer window and he became an integral part of Derry's squad, helping the Candy Stripes forge a title challenge and a path to Sunday's FAI Cup Final.

His performances have certainly not gone unnoticed and have earned him a nomination from his peers for the prestigious PFAI Player of the Year award in his first season in the League of Ireland.

Off the pitch his Scottish wife Rosa and his two young children, Ora and Rohan, have made the Maiden City their home and as a family they've settled seamlessly into life in the city since early October.

Connolly has made no secret of his ambitions to win silverware during his time with Derry and couldn't hide his disappointment when the Candy Stripes' league title bid crumbled with four games to go.

With the FAI Cup up for grabs on Sunday, Connolly is determined to raise aloft the trophy in honour of his father who shared all the highs and lows of his career up until his sudden passing last year.

"Losing him last year, I kind of had that in the back of my mind, that I wanted to try and win something and I'm sure he will be there on the day and hopefully I can make him proud," said Connolly.

His father, known to many simply as 'coach' left a lasting legacy after years of volunteering and coaching with his local GAA club, Clones St Tiarnach's.

So much respect the club and players had for their inspirational coach, they visited his graveside with the Monaghan Junior County Football Championship trophy they won at the end of October.

It was a touching gesture which was greatly appreciated by Connolly who replied to the picture posted on Twitter with the message: "Dad will be the proudest and happiest man in heaven tonight, incredible lads thank you."

It promises to be an emotional but 'proud' day for Connolly on Sunday and he's delighted he will share the occasion with members of his father's gaelic team and his nearest and dearest who will make the journey from Clones on a 50 seater coach to support him.

"Even talking about it now gives me a bit of goosebumps," said Connolly. "There's a lot of boys coming up in that bus from the gaelic club as well. The local gaelic club won the championship for the first time in quite a long time and my father would've been the absolute happiest man alive so also, that's in the back of my mind."

After spending eight long months away from his two children who stayed on in Scotland while he made the move back to Ireland, he's delighted they'll be in attendance with his daughter Ora walking out to the home of Irish football by his side as mascot.

"They're over now and it will be a big occasion for them as well. My little girl will hopefully come out on the pitch with me which would be amazing for her and a great experience. So we're all ready. It's just the wait now. The family is all ready, the tops are all getting printed up now today with names on the back so I'm looking forward to it.

"The biggest thing for me is my family being able to drive to the final and I have people from Clones where I was born, from the football club who will be coming up in 50 seater buses.

"I have aunties and cousins all coming up to the game. That in itself is probably the biggest thing for me. It's a fantastic occasion. I'm delighted to be here at Derry City. The place has been buzzing. The fans in the shops I've met are all saying they're going.

"In fact there's not been one person who told me they're not going, which is an amazing thing. But the biggest thing for me is knowing my family can jump in the car, drive up the road and watch the game. That's a nice feeling."

He's been the missing link in Higgins' team prior to replacing Eoin Toal and the City boss will be delighted to have Connolly's experience and big match mentality against a stubborn Shelbourne on Sunday.

Alongside skipper Patrick McEleney, he's been Higgins' eyes and ears and responsible for communicating the manager's message on the pitch.

It's a character trait honed under former Wolves and Ireland boss Mick McCarthy while he was a youngster at Molineux and sharing a dressing room with the likes of Kevin Davis and Gary Cahill at Bolton will no doubt have rubbed off on him. It's that leadership role he's relished at Brandywell.

"He (McCarthy) was someone who was a centre half, I was a centre half and a young Irish lad as well. He took me out of school to train with the first team. So I stopped going to school when I was about 16 going on 17. I was training with the first team and he was developing me as a talker and reading the game so when you're attacking making sure everything is set up defensively. He was brilliant.

"I've had a decent enough career across the water. I'll try and bring any experience I have of playing on big occasions in big games and also playing with big players and seeing what way they deal with different situations. That's kind of my game. I help the people around me as much as possible. So it's just another week for me.

"I've played in the playoff final in Scotland with Kilmarnock where if we lost against Falkirk we were relegated. Thankfully we won it but that was a horrible occasion. If we lost we were relegated whereas here, we're in a cup final so there' not the same pressure, it's more about enjoying it.

"Anything can happen in these games. This week, you have to take it all in your stride with getting the suits and everything, you just have to enjoy it and when the moment comes, be ready for it."

Connolly will be leading from the back and he's not afraid to offend when it comes to barking orders.

"I'm quite loud," he laughed. "I don't really stop shouting or getting on to boys but I do that because I want people to improve.

It also helps Ruaidhri and 'Rennie' on the sidelines if you have people on the pitch who are a bit louder and with Patrick McEleney as well it helps.

"I class myself as an old school type of player in the sense I grew up with Mick McCarthy and boys like that when I was at Wolves. He was big on me speaking and being more of a leader and organising and I try to do that as much as I can.

"I'd say some of the boys can't wait for the season to finish so they stop hearing me shouting but it's all for a good cause. I said I wanted to help improve the team and if I've done that brilliant. But we still have one big game to go and hopefully I can help the team on Sunday."

However, it's clear victory on Sunday won't satisfy his appetite for winning trophies.

"As I said I've come here to win stuff. We have a chance to do that and after four months it would be amazing to do that but next year we will be pushing for the league - that's top of my list."