Winger McMullan departs Derry City

Paul McMullan has played his last game for Derry City.

The 29-year-old played his last 15 minutes for the Candystripes as a late substitute during Friday night’s win over Drogheda United, and said his goodbye afterwards, bringing an end to a two-year spell at the club.

McMullan joined the club in July, 2023 under Ruaidhri Higgins and made his debut against Sligo overs at the Brandywell shortly afterwards. That was the first of 65 successive appearances for the club, a run which ended in the home game against Waterford back in February. An ever-present under Higgins, the winger played in every single game of the 2024 season, and overall contributed three goals and 19 assists during his time at the club. While a clear favourite of the previous manager, McMullan has not had the same impact under Tiernan Lynch, managing just five starts and 11 substitute appearances in 22 games this season.

McMullan is expected to return to Scotland, with Raith Rovers reportedly interested in the midfielder ahead of their 2025/26 campaign.

He is the second player to leave Derry City and return home to Scotland after the departure of Dom Thomas, as Tiernan Lynch begins to adjust his squad for what he hopes will be a successful second half t the season.

A third successive victory saw Derry City overtake both Drogheda and Bohemians to jump into second place on Friday night, and the manager made a point to dedicate the win to his predecessor.

“Before we talk about any football, it is important to dedicate this win to Ruaidhri Higgins and his family,” he said. “It’s a tough time for them at the minute and hopefully this win will put an element of a smile on their faces. That’s on behalf of everyone at the football club and our thoughts and prayers are with the family at the moment.”

Lynch was understandably very satisfied with this latest victory, his joint-highest victory as Derry City manager.

“It’s a been a tough week, tough with travelling going to Dublin twice,” he reflected. “Three clean sheets gives us a real platform. We were very dominant in possession. We could probably have ben more clinical in the final third but they are things we’ll work on and get better.

“The first 2-25 minutes were probably what we were expecting. Drogheda don’t concede many goals and they got into a block and they are very difficult to break down. Normally what happens is that you try to force it and get frustrated, but I thought we were very patient, we kept working and probing and when we scored the first goal, that took a bit of pressure off us, and we played with real smiles on our faces, and that’s what we’re trying to achieve here.”

Derry City are the clear form team in the division after three successive victories, and as pleased as Lynch is, he insisted that the hard work is now just beginning for his players.

“Unless we go and win four, it doesn’t mean anything,” he warned. “That’s the big tjing for us. That’s the gauntlet that we’ve thrown down in the changing room now. Can we find that consistency? We’ve been very, very good at times, but we’ve been very inconsistent at times, and we now need to roll our sleeves up, we need to build on the confidence that we’ve got over the last three games, and we need to take that into the next game and show that confidence, that composure and go again.”

Having settled scores now against Shelbourne, St. Patrick’s Athletic and Drogheda United in recent weeks, Lynch now has a chance to avenge two defeats to Waterford when the Blues return to the Brandywell this week.

IN PICTURES: Fans jubilant as Derry City dominant over Drogheda

“Every day is a school day for us, especially in the league, learning about our own players and learning about opposition players and learning about opposition managers and styles,” he continued. “We have a lot to learn, but thankfully, there’s a great work ethic amongst the staff, and we’re working really hard to make sure that we cover all bases, but there’s still a lot to do.”

“We’re well aware that it’s June and there’s still a long way to go. All we can do is take it one game at a time, we’ll not look too far forward and we’ll not look back over our shoulders, we’ll just concentrate on ourselves.”