History of Derry City F.C. - The Early Years in The Irish League (1929–49)

The Early Years in The Irish League (1929–49)

On 22 August 1929, Derry City ran on to the Brandywell turf for the first time in claret and blue shirts with white shorts. McCleery's full-time professionals led Glentoran F.C. by a score of 1–0 at half-time with a goal from Peter Burke – a recent recruit from the Free State Army. The attendance of 7,500 saw a Derry team captained by Con Hilley lose that lead in the second half and leave the pitch without any points after Glentoran's second-half brace. Their trip to Portadown resulted in Derry's first hat-trick in senior football through Sammy Curran, but they still managed to lose 6–5 in an enthralling game. Their first point in senior football came soon after a 1–1 draw in the Brandywell against Ballymena F.C; and a crowd of 12,000 saw Derry get their first cup-game win when they beat the dominant Linfield F.C. side 3-1 in the Gold Cup. On 7 September the Brandywell club gained their first league victory with a 3-2 win over Newry Town at the home of the County Down club. It was not until 5 October 1929 that the Brandywell faithful witnessed Derry's first league victory on home turf when Derry beat Cliftonville F.C. 4-3. The ended the season in an admirable fifth place, and came third in the City Cup.

However, it was not an easy start for the Foylesiders and it certainly was not going to be an easy ride at any stage in the Irish League. The following year, McCleery signed Derry’s first legend. Jimmy Kelly, born in Ballybofey, schooled in the Derry and District FA, and polished in the Anfield training grounds, returned to Derry and played his first game on 26 October 1930 against Linfield at Windsor Park. It took him four matches to get on the scoresheet. That goal against Glenavon F.C. was the first of 363 for Derry City in a career spanning almost 21 years. During that time he was capped by the IFA, the FAIFS, the Irish League and the League of Ireland. His arrival though did not inspire Derry who ended the 1930-31 league campaign in seventh place.

The next season saw a brief upturn in their fortunes, which could very well have been directly related to Derry’s signing of the club’s second superstar. E.D.R. Shearer pulled on the Derry shirt for the first time at the Coleraine Showgrounds in a career spanning eight seasons with the club. With three games of the 1931-32 season remaining, Derry were top of the table, level with Glentoran, but managed to lose all three games and ended up in fourth place. It was gutting to end the season in such a way, especially as they had scored 107 goals. Rumours of McCleery’s demise began to circulate. In June 1932, McCleery was sacked despite the fact he had just had his most successful season at the helm. The directors also decided to introduce Derry’s second strip at the end of the season – white shirts and black shorts.

A Donegal man, Billy Gillespie, was given the nod as McCleery's replacement after 20 years playing at Sheffield United. Gillespie did not have a great start and could only help the club to another fourth-place finish in 1933. This was the second year in which ground purchase was mentioned. The board decided against buying Bond's Field in the Waterside as it was thought to be too far away from the fan base which had built up on the Cityside, especially in the Brandywell area. They had first option on Derry Celtic's old ground, Celtic Park, but hesitated on a final decision and the Gaelic Athletic Association bought it ten years later. They also decided not to purchase Meenan Park for £1,500. In 1934 the club came ninth and so the dismissal of McCleery was looking worse by the season.

Shortly before the 1934–35 season, the directors decided on another change of strip. They decided on the red and white striped shirts and black shorts of Sheffield United as a tribute to Billy Gillespie who, despite his less-than-impressive managerial performance, was still an extremely popular figure throughout Ireland and especially the north-western region, due to his international performances for the Irish football team. This was to be the jersey that was to become synonymous with Derry City for the next seventy years, the only break being a period of wearing gold and black in the late 1950s. It was in the "candy-striped" top that Derry lifted their first major trophy. Having won the North-West Senior Cup in 1931–32, 1932–33, and 1933–34, they went a step further and in front of 9,000 at Brandywell - Hugh Carlyle lifted the old Dunville trophy for Derry City as winners of the City Cup by a clear 5 points over 12 games. Derry were to repeat this feat in 1937 but it was not until 12 years later that that they were to lift another major trophy, having also lost an Irish Cup final replay to Linfield in 1936.

By 1947–48, the directors were seriously considering Derry's future as the club had entered a demise in the previous decade and were no longer as feared as they once were. However, luckily, then-manager Willie Ross took advantage of having found a considerable sum of money to spend after the sale of players Eddie Crossan and John Feeney resulted in an annual profit of £2,000 – a figure most Irish clubs would have jumped at in the days of red bank balances. This enabled the club to carry on and keep astute on the transfer market.

In 1949 the club won the Irish Cup for the first time. Derry were reduced to 10 men in the final at Windsor Park on 16 April 1949 when Jimmy Kelly was stretchered off. After the opponents, Glentoran, went in front, Hugh Colvan and Matt Doherty put Derry ahead. The team doctor cured Kelly’s concussion and the 10,000 Derry supporters roared him back on to the field of play 15 minutes after he had been carried off. Barney Cannon's goal seven minutes from time meant that the 27,000 in attendance saw the Irish Cup going to Derry for the first time.