WHAT DERRY CITY MEANS TO ME... Falling in love again and again!

I’m Toni Devlin, I’m 29 and I’m originally from Stirling in Scotland. I moved to Derry in November 2019 after marrying my husband Sean (a Derry man).

We moved to the Brandywell in February 2020 just a few weeks prior to the pandemic. During the pandemic I really struggled with the isolation and being away from my family, even though I’m incredibly lucky to have amazing in-laws it was still difficult.

Having been to a Candystripes game on one of my visits to Derry before, we decided as soon as the pandemic was over, we would treat ourselves to season tickets. When they announced in 2021 that the season tickets were coming out, we queued for five hours to make sure we were guaranteed a great spot.

One of the things I love about having the season tickets is me and Sean specifically make the time to go and spend the evening together.

My first ever match was freezing cold pre-season friendly against Finn Harps in January 2019. Whilst over visiting from Scotland, we decided last minute to take our nieces to the match, where all of us had an absolute ball. I absolutely loved the friendly and lively atmosphere from the second I stepped into the Brandywell stadium.

Now that we are regulars, I love going to Mailey’s for one (or two) pre match pints followed by walking to the stadium with all the other fans. As soon as we are in the stadium, we have our own little ritual we have to follow.

First, we buy a programme followed by heading straight to the chip van getting a cheeseburger each and some chips cheese and curry to share before heading to our seats match ready. Although we are over in the Mark Farren stand, which is a bit quieter than the Southend stand, the craic is still brilliant, and we can enjoy the drums without going deaf.

Although I have thoroughly enjoyed attending all the home games, my favourite Derry City memory was traveling to Dublin last year for the cup final. The whole drive down there was just bus and car loads of red and white. Once we got to Dublin it was even better, just a sea of red and white and the atmosphere was electric.

It was my first ever time in the Aviva and it was an amazing stadium. The fact that so many Derry City fans had travelled down for the match just made it that much more special. Getting the win was just the cherry on top for the whole weekend.