Ciaran Coll has always been aware of what the north west derby meant to supporters of Finn Harps and Derry City.
Growing up in the border village of St Johnston, which houses ardent fans of both clubs, the derby banter was always lively.
Coll – pictured above by Joe Boland, North West News Pix – was reared on a diet of football, the family entrenched in the workings of Kildrum Tigers in his home town, and from an early age was always destined for a senior career.
To the imports that have arrived in the north-west, derby day mightn’t have the same meaning, but to the likes of Coll it’s everything and it’s evident that ‘just another game’ won’t quite cover a tussle with the Candystripes.
“A derby game to me is massive,” the Harps captain says. “It’s a huge game.
“You have new lads in there who might’t know about the derby, but they’ll know about it soon enough. They’ll take it on board when they hear the boys up in the shed or the boys behind the nets and the Derry fans over on the far side.
“Straight away, that’ll hit them, the derby atmosphere.
“It’s a massive help for us to have a big crowd. It’s very tough for us these games, but the crowd definitely gives us an extra couple of percent.”
Chris McNulty speaks to Finn Harps captain Ciaran Coll
Despite having an abysmal derby record against Derry, Harps have performed well in the fixtures with the old enemy since making their top flight return last season with two wins, a draw and a defeat from the four games to date.
A 2-1 win in Finn Park last March marked Harps’ first Premier Division game since 2008 and this year, BJ Banda and Michael Funston netted in a 2-0 win at Maginn Park – Harps’ first ever away win over City in the League.
In spite of all that, Coll’s abiding memory is the painful 5-0 thrashing as Arron McEneff netted a brace of penalties to go alongside goals from Nathan Boyle, Lukas Schubert and Keith Ward.
A night like that stung the natives.
Coll says: “Last year and the 5-0 hurt us. To this day, a defeat like that at home, the way the game went and people rubbing it in, that hurt the whole way.
“You get it everywhere, the grief and the banter about derbies. You have people locally just giving it everything before the game, during it and after it.
“We have a decent record against them, but that 5-0 defeat stands out more than any of the other games.”
Coll has made 226 appearances for Harps and only turns 26 next month.
Inheriting the captaincy from club icon Kevin McHugh has not been lost on Coll – who had a spell at Hearts as a youth and who has been capped at underage level by the Republic of Ireland.
He says: “The captaincy means a lot, especially with the man who had it before me.
“I used to go watch Kevin playing. I always followed him and he was my idol. I went from that to going with him to training when he was at the club. To get the captaincy after him is brilliant. It feels great.”
Coll might well have been donning the Candystripes himself had things been different.
Paul Hegarty, now the Harps’ assistant manager, has always been an admirer of the left-back’s talents and it was Hegarty who gave him his Harps debut, back in 2009 against Kildare County.
While at Derry as assistant boss, Hegarty teased the possibility of a switch to Foyleside.
Stephen Kenny was interested at a time and Declan Devine was keen to lure Coll to his ranks – but he stayed put.
He says: “I love the club here.
“There are talks about things here and there and there are rumours here and there. I’m happy at Harps. I’m delighted here.
“When Ollie approached me at the end of last season, I jumped at it again. We’ve great pride in the club here and we all want to work hard to keep the club in the Premier.
“The work rate Ollie and Higgsy get out of players is unreal.”
Coll has had to play a more central role at times this season due to necessity, but he took to the role like the duck going to water.
He says: “I don’t mind playing in the middle. I only played it competitively a couple of times. The only real time I played it properly before and that was for Ireland in the Foyle Cup. I like it in there. It’s natural as a defender.”
Harps launched a promotional campaign this season under the ‘unify and defy’ banner and they’ve certainly been defying the odds so far.
The addition of Paddy McCourt – whom Coll describes akin to ‘a ghost’ – added a touch of refinement and the acquisition of Ibrahim Keita recently appears an astute piece of business by Horgan.
As they prepare to welcome Derry down Navenny Street, Harps are two points away from the quicksand and have games in hand.
Coll says: “From the start of the season, no-one gave us a chance of staying up. Everyone was talking about who was getting relegated along with us.
“The hunger, desire and heart we have in the jersey all comes from knowing about the First Division. We don’t want to go back there. It gives us a fight now.
“We went to Drogheda and turned them over, we did the same against Bohemians. People didn’t expect us to get those wins, but we have put in the work.
“We have the players to play anyone, but the way the likes of Derry and Bray can prepare for games is massive for them.”
Financial restraints mean that part-time Harps are competing in the full-time Premier Division. Their peers and rivals are at training while Harps players are in a day job before commuting to training.
They have a daily grind other top flight players don’t, which perhaps make their competitiveness even more impressive.
Coll says: “Derry have brought in a few and there’s a big difference financially between the two clubs. They’re full time. What Derry do in a week, maybe training twice a day a few days a week, we have to do the same in two or three sessions. Everything is so tight for us.
“It would be brilliant if we could do that. Even with facilities, you look at Derry out at the Foyle Arena in the back door and, at times, we’re all over Donegal looking for pitches.
Ciaran Coll celebrates scoring against UCD in the play-off in October 2015
“But we don’t want to be going back to the First Division. We want to be up here competing with the best teams. You look at Limerick and how they kicked on after getting relegated by us. We’d like to do that now too.”
It was forgotten in the mania of Banda’s famous winner against Limerick in the 2015 play-off final, but it was Coll who kick-started the play-offs that year with a quick fire opener against UCD in the first leg of the semi-final.
It was only his third Harps goal – his other two coming against Salthill Devon way back in 2012 – and the lack of goals gnaws at him.
He says: “I was in for one against Limerick, but Freddy Hall pulled off a brilliant save. If I’d scored that I might have kicked on.”
A derby goal would mean everything to the Harps skipper – just like the game itself.
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