Derry City's new man Conor Davis remembers 'rocking Brandywell'

The 21-year-old, who joins from UCD on an 18 month deal, stated after that first game in the Premier Division, the tremendous noise from the home support in that encounter lived long in the memory.

“It was a bit of a shock to the system that first game of the season,” he insisted.

“But it’s a level I think I can play at and I feel I have progressed as a player in the first half of the season with UCD and I feel as a player that I’m ready to make that next step going on now.

“The other thing that stood out that night against Derry was that the place was rocking and that’s something that I’m excited to be a part of now.”

Davis also confirmed that when the first contact was made from the Candy Stripes he spoke to former Students team-mate Greg Sloggett before making the switch.

“I gave Greg a text when the contact was initially made and I just asked him, how was he finding it up here and was he enjoying it and he didn’t have one bad word, he's having the time of his life up here,” he insisted.

“I think from a footballing perspective, it’s clear to see that Greg’s really doing well, so after chatting to him was part of the reason that I ended up coming here too.

“There was a few clubs after me but once contact was made from Derry it really interested me and then I came up here, met the manager, some of the staff and the players and I knew right away that the club was going in the right direction

“They have great ambition and that’s something I want to be a part of.”

As for boss Declan Devine he’s delighted to have beaten the likes of Bohemians, Cork City and St Patrick’s Athletic to Davis’ signature.

“I’m absolutely ecstatic to get him and lets just say that there was a number of clubs in the League of Ireland who wanted Conor Davis to come to enhance their team,” he explained.

“Put it this way, anytime we have played UCD this year, we have always showed the players clips of Conor Davis because we felt he was their main man and we felt that he was a player who could hurt us, so to have him on board now is great.

“He’s exactly the type of player/person that we want to build this football club on. He’s exciting, he’s talented and he’s also at a very good age in terms of having the potential to further his career, whether that’s here or whether that’s in England.

“He has high ambitions; we have high ambitions as a football club and he certainly fits all the targets what we are looking at, whenever we are bringing a player to the club."