Dennis Tueart returns as Derry City celebrate 40 years in the League of Ireland

Dennis Tueart will be the special guest at the Everglades Hotel this weekend as Derry City celebrate 40 years in the League of Ireland.

The former Manchester City and England star will be the star attraction as the club marks a significant milestone in its history, the beginning of a story which began on Sunday, September 8, 1985.

Approximately 10,000 fans packed into the Brandywell to see Derry City’s return to senior football, after 13 years in exile from the Irish League, a feat made possible by the Gang of Four of Eamon McLaughlin, Tony O’Doherty, Eddie Mahon and Terry Harkin.

The presence of Tueart in the Derry City team that day made the occasion all the more exciting, with the former Manchester City star going on to make eight appearances, and scoring one goal before he returned to England.

Also creating history that day was Barry McCreadie, who scored the club’s first goal as a League of Ireland team on the way to a 3-1 victory over Home Farm.

“It was an unbelievable day,” he reflected. “It was some experience and I’m glad people still remember it. I still remember the goal because people remind you so much about it. It gets put on Facebook all the time and people talk about it all the time. It was an amazing day.

“Looking back, I was able to see my mother and all my family members coming into the stadium on the video recorder. The atmosphere was so great. I remember someone saying to me in the changing room before hand to just go out and enjoy it, because I was so nervous that day.

“As a player, you don’t think like that. You think you’re going to go on forever and ever and ever, but it has to stop sometime, but the buzz is still here big time.”

Eddie Seydak, also in the team on that historic day, recalls the nervous energy of the players as they awaited for the big kick-off. While a huge crowd had already attended City’s high-profile friendly game against Jim McLaughlin’s Shamrock Rovers just a few months earlier, the players weren’t sure what would happen when the real deal began.

“It was an amazing experience, but I think on the day, no-one was sure what kind of crowd would be coming, whether it would be 500 or whether it would be a thousand,” he recalled.

“As it turned out, the place was mobbed, it was absolutely jam-packed, and that was at a time when there was no social media; there were just the Derry papers like the Derry Journal, or what was on the wireless, so it was a bit of a surprise the size of the crowd as well, and I think it took a bit of getting used to. I remember Barry’s goal, but I can’t remember the other two goals,” he laughed.

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While the first few months back in senior proved to be a struggle, the victory on that first day was much ore about the points on offer, as Eddie explains.

“You just had to hope for the best,” he said. “I think the result on the day was important, not just for the team, but for the city. We didn’t want to go out and lose; given the crowd and the excitement, we didn’t want to end up with egg on our face. Thankfully, the day went well, so we were really glad of that.

"But we’re really glad as well, when you think back to the boys that got us into the league, it was a fantastic day for them, and I’m sure they look back, not just on the match, but the trail they had to go through to get us in after the trouble in the Irish League, to get us into the League of Ireland, I think they really deserve all the praise they get.”