FAI Cup final: Emmet Malonetalks to Derry City's Clive Delaney who is anxious to win a FAI Cup medal
Having gone to Derry a couple of years back with the intention of adding prizes to the plaudits he'd been receiving since he first made the breakthrough into senior football with UCD, Clive Delaney is still waiting patiently for his first major success as he prepares for Sunday's Carlsberg-sponsored FAI Cup final at Lansdowne Road.
The Dubliner has been this far in the cup before, with the now 26-year-old ending up on the losing St Patrick's Athletic side three years ago. This weekend, he hopes his former club will be in for another disappointment and he and his City team-mates make some sort of amends for narrowly missing out on top spot in the league again.
"Coming second in the league is a bit of a nightmare," he says. "You go through the whole rollercoaster of being on top, being second, then on top and then the run-in when you look at everyone's results - your own, Shelbourne's, Drogheda's and Cork's. Then when you don't win it, it is gut-wrenching."
It is a good deal worse, he reckons, than missing out on the cup as he did in 2003 after St Patrick's' preparations had been affected first by Charlie Livingstone's health problems and then by the suspension of one of the team's key figures - Karim El Khebyr.
Since then the central defender has achieved a measure of consolation by picking up two league cup winners medals, but he remains focused on loftier targets and hopes to start hitting them with a Derry side that he considers, despite the disappointment of seeing the league go to Shelbourne, capable of being the best.
"You can win the league cup as often as you like, but it is the big ones that you really want," he says. "I've won a bit, but it's not enough. I want to get a FAI Cup medal on the table."
Despite his formidable reputation as one of the country's leading centre backs and the threat he poses from set-pieces, Delaney, as it happens, can not even be sure of starting this weekend.
Injury has forced him to sit out much of the season and when he did return he found his opportunities extremely limited due to the form of Peter Hutton, Ken Oman and Darren Kelly in a City side that remained in contention for the treble.
"I'm fit now, though," he insists. "I've played the last three games, won all three, and have been on a winning side in every game I've played this year."
His relaxed demeanour ensures the comments don't sound remotely pushy, but it is clear the former under-21 international believes he is worth his place and Stephen Kenny, one suspects, faces an unenviable task if he has to tell the player he disagrees come Sunday morning.
With Kenny leaving, sorting out Delaney's longer term future will be somebody else's responsibility, but whoever replaces the current manager will presumably be keen to tie down the big centre back who will be out of contract once the season ends.
"At the moment I am in limbo," he admits. "But I don't have a problem with Derry or living in Derry and I'd be happy to stay. I'd say we have the best club in the country at the moment.
"The club is well-run, has no problem with wages and is doing well on the field. So why wouldn't I want to stay here?"
City's failure to win a major trophy during its recent resurgence is the only possible reason that springs to mind.
By Sunday evening, he hopes, that will have been adequately addressed.
