'This club is only going in one direction!'

Ciaran Coll is determined to play his part in a Derry City title challenge next season after committing his future to the club for another year. 
Coll, who signed for Declan Devine back in December 2018, and who has made 110 appearances for the Candystripes, is now preparing for his fifth season at the club after impressing Ruaidhri Higgins towards the end of the 2022 season. It is the perfect Christmas present for the defender ahead of what is expected to be another memorable year at the Brandywell. 
“I couldn’t be more over the moon, coming up to Christmas and getting a new contract with the club," he said. "I’m just very excited to get started again.
"Ruaidhri and I had no talks about it because our minds were set on the cup final. Thankfully we got success in that but I was just waiting around and holding out and seeing how it went and thankfully, the morning of the homecoming, Ruaidhri said to me that he would sit down and have a chat. Thank God, it was a good chat and he offered me a new deal for another year." 
Coll struggled to get into the team in the first half of the season due to the form of Cameron McJannet, but that changed after City's poor run in May, with the 31-year-old making more frequent appearances. In the end he featured in 22 games overall, including a substitute appearance in the FAI Cup Final win over Shelbourne at the Aviva Stadium. 
"I’ll never forget the team meeting we had," he explained. "Ruaidhri always brought it up and it was wee Jackie who said it: 'You have to be at your very, very, very best to get into this team". One thing a footballer wants is to be in the starting eleven, but you can’t do anything when you’re winning games and the team is doing well. 
“Cameron was playing centre-half and he had been incredible in there and he had played at left back and Danny (Lafferty) had been in there as well. I got an injury against Bohemians and that put me out for three weeks which didn’t help. But thankfully I got a few games. It was hard; it’s very hard for any footballer to sit on the bench, but when you see the team putting in the performance every single week, you can’t fault the manager."
It may only have been a few minutes at the Aviva, but for Coll it was a very special experience to play a part in the club's biggest day out in 10 years. 
"I remember Big Shane was hurt and I thought to myself 'I might get a wee run out here'," he reflected. "It's the biggest achievement of my footballing career, to get on at the Aviva and us winning it. It was the most special moment for me. That is something that every footballer in that league wants to do, is play in the Aviva. You want to play in big games and you want to win big trophies, and hopefully now that's the kickstart for the club to step on and hopefully win the league." 

Adamant
Coll is adamant that he can play a part in helping the team challenge Shamrock Rovers for the title next year, and he is excited to be a part of the squad going forward.
"This club is only going one way in my eyes and that's up," he insisted. "When Ruaidhri came in there were changes made and everything has just been exciting from the start. We all seen everything good from him, and he's a great manager and hopefully we can be successful now together.
"Any game that you go into you have to put yourself up there. There's not many bad players playing in the league. It could be anyone, for example Farugia for Shamrock Rovers; he can cause you a wee bit of bother, but you have to go into your game and say 'I have to beat this boy for us to win this game'. You have to win your own personal battles."