To win Cup with Cork meant everything to me

DEREK COUGHLAN ON HOW HIS 1998 HEROICS ECHO THROUGH THE YEARS

- Garry Doyle

THERE'S a photograph from the summer of 1998 that says everything about Derek Coughlan.

He's not screaming, not waving his arms, not running off like a man whos just written his name into Cork City folklore.

He’s simply standing there, calm as you like, while the rest of his teammates lose their minds around him.

It was the 1998 FAI Cup final replay.

Cork City against Shelbourne.

Then, late in the game, a set piece.

The ball floated in, and there was Coughlan - not a striker, not the glamour man, but the dependable defender - guiding it past Alan Gough and into the net.

‘That was it.

City 1, Shels 0.

The club’ first FAI Cup.

“T still remember the noise; he says ‘Not the roar when it went in, but the few seconds after, Just the relief. The years of waiting lifted off everyones shoulders”

That moment - that goal - might have been the pinnacle for many. But for Derek Coughlan, it was only the halfway mark in a career that came to define a certain kind of Irish footballer.

He was loved by fans because of who and what he was.

He wasnt one for headlines. He didn't crave attention. He just did his job - quietly, completely, and with an honesty that earned him respect in every dressing room he entered.

By 2002, Cork had started to change.

The club was in a transitional phase, moving between eras, between philosophies. Coughlan didn’t wish to leave. But circumstances left him with little choice.

So when Bohemians came calling, it felt like a natural step - a chance to test himself at a club with ambition and, as it turned out, a side on the verge of a league title.

“People forget that Bohs weren't flying at that stage” he reflects. “We were building. It wasn't like we were favourites for that year's league. But there was something there - something good.

Bohs may not have been flying but Coughlan was.