After four years away, Darren Kelly returned to the Brandywell at the start of the summer in desperate need of a new challenge. This evening's Uefa Cup game against PSG is further evidence he did well to return to his rejuvenated hometown club to find it.
Born in Derby, the 27-year-old centre half grew up a stone's throw from Derry City's home and makes no secret of the pride he feels at being involved on nights like this. Though he left the Candystripes back in 2002 to advance his career, Carlisle United proved something of a cul de sac, and the two years he spent at Portadown only compounded his frustration.
"At that stage I was only training one or two nights a week and I was probably a stone or a stone and a half overweight but still I was playing all the time," he says. "It wasn't until then that I realised just how big the gap between the Irish League and the Eircom League had become."
At the end of last season he made no secret of his desire to return to Derry and turned down offers from a handful of English clubs to complete the move. The attractions were manifold but the prospect of playing European football helped make up his mind.
"Everybody at the club relishes nights like this," he says. "We all want to win the league but these are the sort of games that you remember forever, that your grandkids ask you about. It's a historic night, the sort of thing that makes you pursue a career in the game in the first place."
Before leaving for Carlisle, Kelly had tasted European football with Derry but he admits the culture around the club is different from when a virtually unknown Maribor Teatnic comfortably progressed at the expense of Felix Healy's side.
"The club has been transformed in the last few year, without a doubt," he says. "Nobody is under any illusions about how tough a game against a side like Paris St Germain is going to be but the bottom line is that these days I don't think there's a single player at the club who doesn't believe that we have a chance of actually beating them."
If Derry are to progress against one of the giants of the French game Kelly and his fellow defenders will have to be on song. To date they have conceded just two goals at home in domestic competition, both consolation efforts in 3-1 wins. There were another two against Gretna but a big away win had all but assured City's progression.
Kelly and co may be relieved Portugal's Pauletta does not feature in the visitors' starting line-up but they know they will still face a searching test. However, he remains upbeat.
"The games against Gretna and Gothenburg are done with but they've given us the confidence to believe that maybe over the 90 minutes we can get ourselves into a good position to go out there and really give them something to think about."
