ONWARD AND forward, Derry City and the city of Derry could nurse their collective hangover this morning, secure in the knowledge that the club has found its feet like never before.
Eight years awaiting, through which time they went to the brink of extinction, Derry City won their second National League title on a memorable night by the Bogside on Saturday when beating the outgoing champions St Patrick's Athletic 2-0.
The estimated £150,000 cash injection from participation in next season's European Champions League (Cork City were our last representatives three seasons ago) augments their state of rude health on the pitch and throughout the club. In a way, Derry City found themselves this season.
Without blowing his own trumpet, Felix Healy said: "That's probably the lowest paying budget that Derry's had, since they came back into football. People mention the Bosman rule, but the Bosman rule was there for everybody. We knew Pascal (Vaudequin) was going to Shelbourne because of the Bosman rule."
From this, he moulded a well-balanced, honest team which has borne the one quality, which, above all else, is the hallmark of champions - consistency. Even allowing for the six-game winless run last October-November, they've hardly put two bad performances together all season. They're as honest as the day is long.
The 41-year-old Healy could be a great manager in the making with a long career ahead, if only this intense, intelligent and private man could live with the often self-induced pressures of management, instead of bottling them up.
Believed to be on the verge of resigning at the end of November, there had been speculation that Healy might resign at the end of this season. "I've already given the chairman my word that I will stay until the end of next season. I would think that that would be it. To be honest I don't think I could take too much more of this." Of winning leagues? "I don't know about that either," laughed Healy.
"It gets to the stage when you think you're destined not to win anything," said Healy, a four-time Irish League runner-up with Coleraine, and four times a losing Cup finalist with Coleraine and Derry. "I'm so pleased for everybody in Derry, not just Derry City but everybody in Derry. It's great for the whole city. If Derry City does well it helps the whole community," he added, his words almost drowned out by the chant of "champi-o-nies" in the adjacent home dressing-room.
"To all intents and purposes the club last year was within two or three weeks of going out of football. The truth may never be told about those times. It was difficult to manage the club at the time. Nobody knows how difficult only me. But that makes it all sweeter now.
"The great thing now is that the club is in such a strong financial position that what happened last year cannot happen again," said Healy, which is a tribute to both him and the club chairman Paul Diamond.
Significantly, Healy added: "The players that are here this year will be here again next year. There'll be nobody leaving anywhere." That includes himself.
There are many unsung heroes in this team and citing Paul Hegarty's maturity in midfield, Healy made a telling observation.
"I keep saying to the players that I never realised what football was about until I was 30. You think that football is about the ability and about being able to play and do this or that. It's about how badly you want to win and it's about being mentally strong. And if you ever wanted the evidence of that, all you had to do was look at the match (Liverpool v Man Utd) this morning."
And look at the 1996-97 National League season.
