Derry City’s new boss Tiernan Lynch has thrown the first warning shot to champions Shelbourne and European kingpins Shamrock Rovers.
The Belfast native, who was unveiled as the Candy Stripes gaffer on Wednesday, knows it’s going to be tough to try and topple the Dubliners but he insists the hard work begins now if they harbour hopes to become the biggest club in Ireland.
“I wouldn’t have taken the job, if I didn’t fully believe this club had the potential to be the biggest club on the island of Ireland. Our job on a daily basis now is to try and bring that out,” stated Lynch, who replaced Ruaidhrí Higgins as City boss.
“There wasn’t too much to think about. I’m well aware of how big this football club is and the challenge that lies ahead.
“As soon as I met the representatives of Derry City it was a very quick decision and there wasn’t too much to think about. It was a no-brainer. It was music to my ears when I heard the opportunities that lie at Derry.
“I’m not going to sit here and tell lies that I might not be able to deliver on, but the one thing I will guarantee is that there will be hard work. From the first minute I had the conversation, your mind started working overtime about what could be done.
“There is no doubt that one of the reasons we came here (is) that challenge, making sure we can knock teams like Shamrock Rovers off their perch, and Shelbourne off their perch and bring that little bit of pride back here.
“Listen, I think from the first minute we had the conversation, your mind started working overtime about what can be done here and where this club could go, and that’s our job now. Our work starts today to try and build this club up to where we want to take it.
“I fully believe that Derry City can be the biggest club on the island of Ireland and I think that there’s so much success can be brought here both on the field and off the field and it’s a challenge that I’m absolutely and utterly relishing.
“I’m not going to sit here and tell you it’s going to be easy, it’s going to definitely be a difficult task but it’s a task that we’re up for and as long as the supporters get behind us, we know we’ve got the backing of the ownership and the board and as I say, collectively, the goal is to go and fulfil the dreams of the supporters of Derry City.
“I think the biggest thing in football is obviously making sure you go out on that pitch with pride, putting the shirt over your head and I know that they sold two and a half thousand season tickets last year. I came down to the Brandywell on numerous occasions and I see the passion in the supporters and the one thing that you have to give them is give them that back and that’s the minimum we’ll accept here as I say is 100%.
“Our job is to tweak the team and develop the team, get the players enjoying what they’re doing but first and foremost it’s pride in the shirt.
“Listen there’s no doubt it’s an exciting time to join Derry City Football Club but I think there will always be an exciting time, I think the size of the club, the stature of the club, the history that goes with the club, it’s a footballing city and as I say it’s something that we’re really looking forward to getting into and it’s a challenge that we’re relishing. We know there’s a huge amount of work that lies ahead both on the field and off the field but hopefully that hard work will pay off.”
During his seven years at Larne, the Belfast native won back to back Sports Direct Premiership titles and this season he guided them to European league phases and they became the first Irish League side to reach the league phase.
The 44-year-old had a fantastic spell at Inver Park and City’s CEO Sean Barrett insisted that his work both on and off the pitch, attracted the Foylesiders to make their move for the ex-Glentoran coach.
“I think we as a club are all absolutely delighted to get Tiernan on board,” stressed Barrett. “He was our number one choice, and we acted swiftly to get him, and we’re absolutely delighted that he’s here. I think he ticks all the boxes from where we’re at and where we go from there.
“We were unaware that this was going to happen until Friday because Ruaidhri was the manager and we were quite happy for him to stay on if he wanted to stay on but he decided he wanted to go. But what we did, we sat down then and looked down and said, what do we need? What’s the DNA for what we need as a club going forward?
“And we went through a list of people, not knowing who would apply or who wouldn’t apply and at this stage, nobody knew, the manager had just decided to go and every single person around that table, the same person kept coming up to us, Tiernan Lynch. Now did we know we would get him or not?
“His vision going forward, his enthusiasm, all those things that we required as a club ticked the boxes so we walked down that room and I made a call to Kenny Bruce to see if there was any chance of speaking to Tiernan and he laughed and says, ‘you know what, he says, ‘I was waiting on this call’ and as I say, I went and spoke to Tiernan.
“His vision for going forward with the club, it was nearly as if he was listening to our board meeting before because every single thing, I mean the facilities we have here, I know you’re not here but the new stands getting built will be finished now in February, we’re hoping to continue the facilities here at the Brandywell as well as the new steelyard facility for the training academy with three pitches, so all that and all that going forward as a club Tiernan has shown and proved that.”