Kelly's flying visit worth the trip

His grin looked as if it was there to stay, but as for David Kelly himself, well, less than an hour had passed since the end of yesterday's cup final and already he was on the move again. Emmet Malone reports

Steadily, he edged his way towards the exit, leaving behind the team-mates who were still enjoying their moment of triumph. Their celebrations were just beginning, but the 37-year-old's work here was done, as they say, and now there was another plane to catch.

Few cup victories produce quite the crop of fairytales that Derry City's 1-0 defeat of Shamrock Rovers brought us yesterday. Liam Coyle's first goal in a final "after three decades trying" would have done us nicely most days.

But then there was Joe Harkin's astonishing return after not one but two cruciate ligament operations; the performance of the string of young players who rose to the occasion at Tolka Park; or that City were here at all, having come so close to going out of senior football due to financial problems a couple of years back.

Kelly, though, had just played competitive football for the last time and, in stark contrast to some of the other former greats to have been lured into extending their careers by playing here, he was leaving with plenty of new friends and his held high.

"When Jim Roddy and Kevin Mahon first mentioned to me about playing for them they were talking about getting into Europe, and it seemed funny because they were bottom of the table and hadn't won a game," beamed the man who won 26 caps with the Republic. "Well, they're there now I guess, so it's all been worth it."

Even yesterday's exertions would have been hard for the former Newcastle, Sunderland and West Ham striker to justify if the result had gone the other way. Having recently started work as a coach with Tranmere Rovers, Kelly wasn't able to travel for the game until yesterday morning, but what had started out as a straightforward trip from Birmingham airport was thrown badly off course by the weekend's storms.

A cancelled flight sent Kelly scurrying first towards Manchester airport and then to Heathrow. He was finally in the air by 12.40, but after his plane was forced to wait 20 minutes for a parking slot after landing in Dublin it took a Garda escort to get him to the ground with just 35 minutes to spare before kick-off time.

"It was the first time," he chuckled, "that I'd ever had steak and chips for my pre-match meal." And the last time too, as it happens.

The journey, though, had all been worth it, for Kelly's part in the game earned him the first cup winner's medal of a memorable career, as well, of course, as a place in Derry City's folklore.

Not as prominent a place, however, as the city's own Liam Coyle. Because of injury, the now 34-year-old was told as a teenager to prepare for life in a wheelchair, but, a decade and a half on, his wonderfully-struck goal in the 48th minute brought him his third cup win and even greater adulation from the 5,000 or so City supporters who were there to witness it. He, however, had seen little of the moment that turned the game.

"To be honest I never even seen it go into the net," he said. "Ciaran Martyn went for it and mishit it, and then it came to me. I threw myself at it but I was unsighted then and it was only when the people started shouting that I knew it was a goal."

The reaction in the stand occupied by the Derry support certainly wouldn't have left him in any doubt about where the ball had ended up, and when the veteran striker limped out of the game not long after there was another prolonged ovation for one of the club's greatest players on one of his best days.

Earlier, the game had been held up briefly after a small fire broke out in front of the main stand. Though it was quickly extinguished, a small number of Shamrock Rovers fans were treated for smoke inhalation and a Garda sergeant received minor injuries.

The fire started when a lighted rag was thrown onto the pitch early in the first half. It was kicked back towards the hoardings by a steward, after which some paper and the padding around the base of one of floodlight pylons ignited.

A nine-minute delay followed as the supporters received attention on the pitch, but the game was then restarted and there were no reports afterwards of any serious problems.