Daryl McMahon (born 10 October 1983) is an Irish former
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
player and manager who was most recently manager of club
Dagenham & Redbridge.
McMahon represented the
Republic of Ireland Under-16 team at the
2000 UEFA European Under-16 Football Championship. Starting as a
midfielder
A midfielder is an outfield position in association football.
Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...
his career at
West Ham United
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...
, he switched to
Port Vale
Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...
in 2004 after failing to make a first team appearance for West Ham. Later in the year he moved on to
Leyton Orient
Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a professio ...
, where he would remain for three years. He then spent two seasons at
Stevenage Borough
Stevenage Football Club (known as Stevenage Borough Football Club until 2010) is a professional association football club based in the town of Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier o ...
, moving on to
Cambridge United
Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on Ne ...
and then
Farnborough in 2009. Two years later he moved on to
Boreham Wood
Borehamwood (, historically also Boreham Wood) is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 31,074, and is within the London commuter belt. The town's film and TV studios are commonly known ...
, and seven months later to
Eastleigh
Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the 2011 census.
The town lies on the River Itchen, o ...
. He has also played for
Torquay United
Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...
and
Notts County
Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...
on loan. He switched to
Dover Athletic
Dover Athletic Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in the town of Dover, Kent, England. The club currently competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club was formed in 198 ...
in September 2012, before signing for Ebbsfleet United in June 2013. He rejoined Boreham Wood in January 2015 before returning to Ebbsfleet as manager three months later.
He managed Ebbsfleet from April 2015 to November 2018 and won promotion out of the
National League South
The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...
play-offs in 2017. He was appointed as manager of
English Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engl ...
side
Macclesfield Town
Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional association football, football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was liquidation, wound-up after a High Court of Justice, High Court ruling on 16 September 2020.
Initially kno ...
in August 2019, but tendered his resignation in January 2020 amidst a financial crisis at the club. He then took charge at National League side
Dagenham & Redbridge, remaining at the club until February 2023.
Playing career
West Ham United
McMahon started his youth career at the age of seven with Neilstown Rangers, before moving on to
Cherry Orchard and then
Belvedere Belvedere (from Italian, meaning "beautiful sight") may refer to:
Places
Australia
*Belvedere, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region
Africa
* Belvedere (Casablanca), a neighborhood in Casablanca, Morocco
*Belvedere, Harare, Zi ...
.
McMahon then began his career as a trainee with
West Ham United
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...
, turning professional in August 2002. In need of first team experience, he joined
League Two
The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...
Torquay United
Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...
on loan in March 2004, making his debut as a late
substitute for
Martin Gritton
Martin Francis Gritton (born 1 June 1978) is a Scottish former professional footballer and sports co-commentator primarily for BBC Radio Devon.
As a player he was a striker from 1998 to 2012. He was a journeyman player and has previously playe ...
in the 2–2 home draw with
Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to:
* Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset
* Yeovil Town L.F.C.
Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...
on 3 April 2004. However, that was to be his only game for the "Gulls" as he returned to West Ham two weeks early, seemingly at his own request.
Port Vale
He was released by West Ham at the end of the
2003–04 season and joined
Martin Foyle
Martin John Foyle (born 2 May 1963) is an English former professional footballer and manager who is the Head of Recruitment at club St Mirren. In his 20-year playing career he played 533 League games, scoring 155 goals. As a manager, he took ...
's
League One
The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...
Port Vale
Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...
on non-contract terms in September 2004. He struggled to establish himself at
Vale Park
Vale Park is a football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It has been the home ground of Port Vale F.C. since 1950.
The ground has seen its capacity go up and down, its peak being 42,000 in 1954 against Blackpool, although a club record 49, ...
and dropped down a division to join
Leyton Orient
Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a professio ...
on a free transfer two months later, after rejecting a further short-term deal at Port Vale. Teammate
Dean Smith
Dean Edwards Smith (February 28, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American men's college basketball head coach. Called a "coaching legend" by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he coached for 36 years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hi ...
had set up the move to
Brisbane Road
Brisbane Road, originally known as Osborne Road, is a football stadium in Brisbane Road, Leyton, East London, England. It has been the home ground of Leyton Orient since 1937, before which it was the home of amateur football team Leyton F.C., w ...
and would himself join Orient soon after.
Leyton Orient
After impressing on a non-contract basis, he signed a six-month deal with Leyton Orient in January 2005. He played 33 games of the "O's" promotion winning campaign of
2005–06 but fell out of favour
the following season and joined
Notts County
Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...
, back in League Two, on loan in November 2006. After his loan spell finished the following January, McMahon joined
Conference National
The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profes ...
club
Stevenage Borough
Stevenage Football Club (known as Stevenage Borough Football Club until 2010) is a professional association football club based in the town of Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier o ...
.
Non-league
A fairly regular member of the first team at
Broadhall Way
Broadhall Way, known as the Lamex Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is an association football stadium in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. It has been the home ground of Stevenage (formerly Stevenage Borough and Stevenage Town) since the early 1960s, an ...
, he was a sub in the
FA Trophy
The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...
final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event
** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...
at
Wembley
Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...
. In May 2008 he signed a two-year contract with the club. On 26 November 2008, he was transfer listed by Borough, along with teammate
John Martin, and in the
January 2009 transfer window McMahon agreed to join fellow Conference Premier club
Cambridge United
Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on Ne ...
.
He made his debut in a 4–1 win over
Woking
Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...
at the
Abbey Stadium
Abbey Stadium is a football stadium in Cambridge, England. It has been the home ground of Cambridge United F.C. since 1932, and currently has a maximum capacity of 8,127 spectators. Cambridge Regional College F.C., Cambridge United's feeder cl ...
, but struggled to hold down a place in the team. He was an unused substitute in the
2009 Conference Premier play-off Final, as he watched his United teammates lose their second play-off final in as many years. On 16 July 2009,
caretaker
Caretaker may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''The Caretaker'' (film), a 1963 adaptation of the play ''The Caretaker''
* '' The Caretakers'', a 1963 American film set in a mental hospital
* Caretaker, a character in the 1974 film '' ...
Cambridge United manager,
Paul Carden
Paul Andrew Carden (born 29 March 1979) is an English former professional footballer and coach, who is currently manager of Nantwich Town.
While playing at Cambridge United, Carden was also the club's assistant manager. He previously played fo ...
, announced that McMahon has left the club. He then joined
Farnborough for a two-year stay. He enjoyed promotion to the
Conference South
The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...
with the club, as they were crowned champions of the
Southern Football League
The Southern League is a men's football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from the South and Midlands of England. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and eight of the English fo ...
Premier Division in
2009–10. The following year he helped the club to the Conference South play-off final, where they were defeated 4–2 by
Ebbsfleet United
Ebbsfleet United Football Club is a professional football club based in Northfleet, Kent, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the club competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football.
The club was formed in 1946 fr ...
. In June 2011, he signed for
Boreham Wood
Borehamwood (, historically also Boreham Wood) is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 31,074, and is within the London commuter belt. The town's film and TV studios are commonly known ...
as a player-coach on a two-year contract. McMahon's stay at Boreham Wood lasted seven months, as in January 2012 he signed for fellow Conference South club
Eastleigh
Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the 2011 census.
The town lies on the River Itchen, o ...
for an undisclosed fee. The "Spitfires" went on to post a mid-table finish in
2011–12.
He was sold to league rivals
Dover Athletic
Dover Athletic Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in the town of Dover, Kent, England. The club currently competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club was formed in 198 ...
for an undisclosed fee in September 2012. Eastleigh manager
Richard Hill had rejected two bids from the "Whites", before Dover boss
Nicky Forster
Nicholas Michael Forster (born 8 September 1973) is a former professional footballer who was most recently the manager of Staines Town. Forster has also been player-manager at Brentford and manager of Dover Athletic.
Football career
Early y ...
put in a bid that Eastleigh director Stewart Donald felt "matched our valuation" and represented "good value". He played in the 3–2 play-off final defeat to
Salisbury City on 12 May 2013.
In June 2013, he signed for Ebbsfleet United for a fee of £13,000. He became a key part of the club's passing style, but credited the club's success to manager
Steve Brown. The "Fleet" finished fourth in
2013–14 and reached the play-off final, where they were beaten 1–0 by
Dover Athletic
Dover Athletic Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in the town of Dover, Kent, England. The club currently competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club was formed in 198 ...
; this was McMahon's fourth play-off final defeat in six years. He did though play in the
Kent Senior Cup
The Kent Senior Cup is an English football competition played between senior clubs in the county of Kent. It is administered by the Kent County Football Association.
History
The Kent Badge preceded the Kent Senior Cup, and was won in its three ...
final, which ended in a 4–0 victory over Dover. He re-signed with Boreham Wood in January 2015 on a contract lasting until summer 2017.
He was also coaching at
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...
and managing Ebbsfleet United, before he retired as a player at the end of the
2014–15 season.
Management career
Ebbsfleet United
McMahon took charge at
Conference South
The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...
club
Ebbsfleet United
Ebbsfleet United Football Club is a professional football club based in Northfleet, Kent, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the club competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football.
The club was formed in 1946 fr ...
on a caretaker basis for three games in November 2014, winning two games and drawing one game in the period following the departure of Steve Brown and the appointment of Jamie Day.
[ He was given a two-year management contract at the club in April 2015. He led the club to a second-place finish in the 2015–16 season, however his record of play-off disappointment continued into his management career as Ebbsfleet went on to lose to Maidstone United on penalties in the play-off final. The "Fleet" again finished second in the 2016–17 season, finishing only two points behind champions ]Maidenhead United
Maidenhead United Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. They are currently members of and have played at York Road since 1871, making it the 'oldest senior football ground continuously ...
. He was named as Manager of the Month for January 2017 after Ebbslfeet won all four of their league games against Dartford
Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and
is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock in ...
, Chelmsford City
Chelmsford City Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Chelmsford, Essex, England. Currently members of they play at the Melbourne Stadium.
History Chelmsford
Chelmsford Football Club was established in 1878 by members of ...
, Poole Town and Wealdstone
Wealdstone () is a district located in the centre of the London Borough of Harrow, England. It is located just north of Harrow town centre and is south of Harrow Weald, west of Belmont and Kenton, and east of Headstone.
The area accommodates ...
. However they made up for their previous season's defeat and justified their 96-point finish after coming from 1–0 down with ten men to record a 2–1 victory over Chelmsford City
Chelmsford City Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Chelmsford, Essex, England. Currently members of they play at the Melbourne Stadium.
History Chelmsford
Chelmsford Football Club was established in 1878 by members of ...
in the play-off final at Stonebridge Road
Stonebridge Road is a multi-purpose stadium in Northfleet, Gravesend, Kent, England, also known as Kuflink Stadium for sponsorship reasons.
It is primarily used for football matches. Stonebridge Road was constructed in 1905, and was initial ...
.
He signed a new five-year contract with the club in May 2017. He was named as National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...
Manager of the Month for February 2018 after four successive victories took them to the cusp of the play-offs. However, after a poor March he admitted that the focus had turned to building a promotion campaign for the following season. A late surge saw the qualify for the play-offs at the end of the 2017–18 season, though they were then beaten 4–2 by Tranmere Rovers
Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...
at the semi-final stage. He left the club by "mutual consent" on 7 November 2018.
Macclesfield Town
On 19 August 2019, McMahon was appointed as manager of EFL League Two
The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...
club Macclesfield Town
Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional association football, football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was liquidation, wound-up after a High Court of Justice, High Court ruling on 16 September 2020.
Initially kno ...
, succeeding Sol Campbell
Sulzeer Jeremiah Campbell (born 18 September 1974) is an English professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of club Southend United. He previously managed Macclesfield Town from November 2018 to August ...
. He got off to a good start on the pitch, however the "Silkmen" squad released a statement to say they had gone unpaid for the month of September as HM Revenue and Customs
HM Revenue and Customs (His Majesty's Revenue and Customs, or HMRC) is a non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial Departments of the United Kingdom Government, department of the His Majesty's Government, UK Government responsible fo ...
delivered the club a winding up petition. He resigned on 2 January 2020 after financial problems resulted in players striking, which left the club unable to fulfill fixtures and punished with a six-point deduction.
Dagenham & Redbridge
Within 24 hours of leaving Macclesfield, McMahon was appointed as manager of National League side Dagenham & Redbridge. The season was suspended on 26 March due to the COVID-19 pandemic in England
The COVID-19 pandemic was first confirmed to have spread to England with two cases among Chinese nationals staying in a hotel in York on 31 January 2020. The two main public bodies responsible for health in England are NHS England and Public ...
and no further matches were played; Dagenham were 18th in the table at the time. They finished the 2020–21
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...
season in 12th-place, which McMahon saw as evidence the club was building in the right direction. After six wins in the first two months of the season, McMahon was awarded the league's Manager of the Month award for August/September 2021. He won the award for a second time for December 2021 after a 100% record across the month. Dagenham ended the 2021–22 season in eighth-place, missing out on the play-offs by a single point despite beating runners-up Wrexham
Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...
on the final day. In May 2022, he was reported to be a contender for the vacant management position at AFC Wimbledon
AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...
. On 24 February 2023, Dagenham parted company with McMahon with the side sitting in tenth position, five points off of the play-offs.
Personal life
McMahon is married to Alex, a stockbroker, and has two children.
Career statistics
Playing statistics
Managerial statistics
Honours
Playing honours
Leyton Orient
*League Two
The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...
third-place promotion: 2005–06
Stevenage Borough
*FA Trophy
The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...
: 2006–07
Farnborough
*Southern Football League
The Southern League is a men's football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from the South and Midlands of England. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and eight of the English fo ...
Premier Division: 2009–10
Ebbsfleet United
*Kent Senior Cup
The Kent Senior Cup is an English football competition played between senior clubs in the county of Kent. It is administered by the Kent County Football Association.
History
The Kent Badge preceded the Kent Senior Cup, and was won in its three ...
: 2014
Managerial honours
Ebbsfleet United
*National League South
The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...
play-offs: 2017
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...
Individual
*National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...
Manager of the Month: February 2018, August/September 2021, December 2021
*National League South
The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...
Manager of the Month: January 2017
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:McMahon, Daryl
1983 births
Living people
Association footballers from Dublin (city)
Republic of Ireland association footballers
Republic of Ireland youth international footballers
Association football midfielders
Cherry Orchard F.C. players
Belvedere F.C. players
Republic of Ireland expatriate association footballers
West Ham United F.C. players
Torquay United F.C. players
Port Vale F.C. players
Leyton Orient F.C. players
Notts County F.C. players
Stevenage F.C. players
Cambridge United F.C. players
Farnborough F.C. players
Boreham Wood F.C. players
Eastleigh F.C. players
Dover Athletic F.C. players
Ebbsfleet United F.C. players
English Football League players
National League (English football) players
Southern Football League players
Republic of Ireland football managers
Republic of Ireland expatriate football managers
Ebbsfleet United F.C. managers
Macclesfield Town F.C. managers
Dagenham & Redbridge F.C. managers
National League (English football) managers
English Football League managers
Association football coaches
Tottenham Hotspur F.C. non-playing staff