FAI Cup win would 'mean everything' to Derry City defender Patrick McClean

​The defender was voted man of the match when winning the Irish Cup with Glentoran in 2020 and he would love to add the FAI Cup to his CV.

He's careful not to get carried away, however, as they must first navigate their way past a dangerous Dundalk team that has 'had their number' this season, winning once and holding Derry to two 2-2 draws in their three league meetings so far.

"We're not getting ahead of ourselves.," he said. "We know Dundalk have kind of had our number this season so we know it will be a tough game but we're confident we will get a result.

"They've lost two big players during the year [Eoin Kenny and Gbemi Arubi] but they have a team full of hard workers who got them to where they are and the table doesn't lie. We know it will be tough but when we're at it we're a match for anybody."

Asked what it would mean to him personally to lift the trophy at the Aviva Stadium on November 8th next, he answered: "It would mean everything after the year we've had. There were so many high expectations at the start of the season, with talk of winning leagues and going far in Europe, but it's been very underwhelming so a cup win would be massive."

Derry has shown significant improvement since Mark Connolly took over as caretaker boss for the past four fixtures. Defensively against UCD, Bohemians and Shamrock Rovers they've looked vulnerable at times but there's been plenty to get excited about at the other end.

As a defender McClean was disappointed the team 'switched off' against Rovers, allowing them back into the game last Sunday in the 3-3 draw at Brandywell and he knows they can ill afford to be as sloppy inside their own penalty area when Dundalk rolls into town with a place in the FAI Cup semi-finals at stake.

"For 65 minutes I thought we were brilliant but against Shamrock Rovers you can't switch off and we let them back into the game way too easily and got punished in the end. Thankfully we walked away with a point, and big Tom [Norcott], coming in for his debut has kept us in it with a massive save at the end so big credit to him but its two points dropped for us."

There's been a positive shift in mood around Derry's training base at Owenbeg since Connolly took the reins, and McClean is enjoying learning from the former centre half.

"Mark isn't long retired. He played here last year so he knows what it means to play for the club and represent the city. Listening to him and learning from him has been brilliant, so I've been soaking it all up and trying my best for him."