David Gerard McDaid (born 3 December 1990) is an Irish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays for

NIFL Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and colloquially as the Irish League or Irish Premiership, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northe ...

side

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from ga, Cúil Rathain , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, Northern I ...

as a striker.

Club career

Derry City

Born in

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

, McDaid played for Tristar Boys in the

Derry and District League The Derry and District League is an amateur football league in Derry. The league includes youth and senior football teams. The Senior Sunday league football, Sunday League has two divisions, the Premier and the First Division. The Youth Leagues ...

Youth Leagues for a number of seasons. He later joined

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally us ...

Premier Division side

Derry City Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

, who loaned him to divisional rivals

Sligo Rovers Sligo Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí Shligigh) is an Irish professional football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club is based in Sligo in the west of Ireland. The club was founded in 1928 ...

for the remainder of the 2008 season on 29 July 2008. He made his debut on 2 August 2008 as a 70th minute substitute for Sean Doherty in Sligo's 1–0 home defeat to

Cork City Cork ( , from , meaning 'marsh') is the second largest city in Ireland and third largest city by population on the island of Ireland. It is located in the south-west of Ireland, in the province of Munster. Following an extension to the city' ...

. McDaid's first and only for the club goal came with Sligo's third goal in a 4–0 home win over

Cobh Ramblers Cobh Ramblers Football Club (CRFC) ( ga, Cumann Peile Chóstóirí Chóbh) is an Irish football club. The club, founded in 1922 and elected to the League of Ireland in 1985, hails from Cobh, County Cork and play their home matches at St. Colm ...

on 27 September 2008 before finishing the loan spell with nine appearances. He was loaned out to

Finn Harps Finn Harps Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Chláirsigh na Finne) are an Irish football club that play in the First Division of the League of Ireland, as of 2023. The club was founded in 1954 and elected to the league in 1969. However, it was te ...

of the League of Ireland First Division at the start of the 2009 season. He scored on his debut for Finn Harps, with an 84th-minute equaliser in a 1–1 draw at Kildare County on the opening day of the season. McDaid scored twice in 12 appearances for the club before returning to Derry in the summer of 2009. He broke into the Derry

first team First team may refer to: Sports * First team (association football), the colloquial name given to the most senior team fielded by a football club * The First Team, the first players known to have played the sport of basketball * First Team All-A ...

, making his debut as an 84th-minute substitute for

Liam Kearney Liam Kearney ( ga, Liam Ó Cearnaigh; born 10 January 1983, Republic of Ireland), nicknamed "The Conna Maradona", is an Irish professional footballer associated primarily with Cork City in the League of Ireland. As of 2021, Kearney was "Head of ...

in a 3–1 defeat away at

Galway United Galway United Football Club (Irish language, Irish: ''Cumann Peile Ghaillimh Aontaithe'') is an List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish association football club based in Galway. They play in the League of Ireland Fi ...

on 16 October 2009. His first goal for Derry came in his next appearance, a 2–1 home defeat against his former loan side Sligo, and this was followed by goals in successive games against

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Lúthchleas Phádraig Naofa) is a professional Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the Irish Premier Division. Founded in May 1929, they played origin ...

and

Bray Wanderers Bray Wanderers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Fánaithe Bhré) are an Irish association football club playing in the League of Ireland First Division. The club in its present form was founded in 1942 in Bray, and was known until 2010 as ''B ...

. He finished the 2009 season with three goals in five appearances for Derry. Derry were expelled to the League of Ireland First Division for the 2010 season, with McDaid becoming one of the first four players to sign for the club alongside

Shane McEleney Shane McEleney (born 31 January 1991) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a centre back for League of Ireland Premier Division side Derry City Playing career Derry City McEleney signed his first professional contract under manage ...

, Patrick McEleney and

James McClean James Joseph McClean ( ; born 22 April 1989) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a winger for EFL Championship club Wigan Athletic and the Republic of Ireland national team. McClean played with Trojans, Institute, his hometown ...

, having committed to a two-year contract. McDaid scored the only goal in the team's first win of the campaign against

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

on 12 March 2010. His first senior

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

came in a 7–0 win away to

Salthill Devon Salthill Devon Football Club is an Irish association football club originally based in Salthill, Galway. Their senior team currently plays in the Galway & District League. They have previously played in the Connacht Senior League, the A Champi ...

on 1 May 2010. McDaid finished the season with 5 goals in 28 appearances, having competed with

Mark Farren Mark Farren (1 May 1982 – 3 February 2016) was an Irish footballer who played as a forward for Derry City in his prime.striker role in a 4–4–1–1 formation, as Derry won the First Division title. He started for Derry in their 1–0 win over Cork in the 2011 League of Ireland Cup Final, and finished the

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

season with 3 goals in 28 appearances. McDaid signed a new contract with Derry in January 2012, contracting him to the club for the

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

season. He played in the 2012 Setanta Sports Cup Final, which Derry lost 5–4 in a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

following a 2–2 draw after

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

. His final appearance for Derry came in the 3–2 extra time win over St Patrick's Athletic in the

2012 FAI Cup Final The 2012 FAI Cup Final was the final match of the 2012 FAI Cup, the national association football cup of the Republic of Ireland. The match took place on 4 November 2012 at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Derry City and St Patrick's Athletic contes ...

at the

Aviva Stadium Aviva Stadium (also known as Lansdowne Road) is a sports stadium located in Dublin, Ireland, with a capacity for 51,700 spectators (all seated). It is built on the site of the former Lansdowne Road Stadium, which was demolished in 2007, and r ...

. McDaid finished the season with 17 goals in 44 appearances and was offered a new deal by Derry, but opted instead to go on trial with English

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 ...

side

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club; it was originally formed in ...

York City

McDaid signed for League Two side

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

on a one-and-a-half-year contract on 29 January 2013, after the club agreed a small compensation fee with Derry. His debut came as a 67th-minute substitute for Michael Potts in York's 4–1 home defeat to

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea. Name The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...

on 2 February 2013. He finished the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season with four substitute appearances for York before he was released by mutual consent on 25 June 2013.

Return to Derry City

McDaid re-signed for former club Derry City on 1 July 2013, saying "Other clubs expressed an interest in me but I wouldn't play for any League of Ireland club other than Derry City – I'm happy to be turning out for my hometown club again." He made his return in a 2–1 defeat away at

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí na Seamróige) is an Irish association football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is the most su ...

on 12 July 2013, before scoring in the following game, a 4–2 away loss to Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

team

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...

in the

second qualifying round The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds eac ...

of the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

on 18 July. McDaid made 16 appearances and scored seven goals for Derry during the remainder of the 2013 season.

Coleraine

He signed for

club

on 17 December 2013, although he would not be eligible to play until the following month.

Cliftonville

McDaid moved to champions

Cliftonville Cliftonville is a coastal area of the town of Margate, situated to the east of the main town, in the Thanet district of Kent, South East England, United Kingdom. It also contains the area known as Palm Bay. The original Palm Bay estate was ...

on a three-year contract in August 2014 as a replacement for the departed

Liam Boyce Liam Boyce (born 8 April 1991) is a Northern Irish professional footballer who plays as a forward for Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian and the Northern Ireland national team. Boyce began his career at Cliftonville and returned to ...

. He made his debut for the club in a 1–0 win at

Portadown Portadown () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population of a ...

on 13 August 2014. McDaid won the player of the month award for August 2014 after an impressive start at Cliftonville.

Waterford

On 17 February 2017 McDaid signed for League of Ireland club

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

. He made his debut coming off the bench away to

Athlone Town Athlone Town Association Football Club () is an Irish football club from Athlone who are playing in the League of Ireland. The club is the oldest in the League as it was founded in 1887. First elected to the League of Ireland in 1922, they pl ...

on 24 February where Waterford were defeated 1–0. McDaid scored his first goals for the club the following week on 3 March against

Cabinteely Cabinteely () is a suburb of Dublin's southside. It is in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, County Dublin, Ireland. Geography Cabinteely lies around the crossroads of Johnstown Road / Brennanstown Road and the Old Bray Road, and on either side of the ...

scoring his sides first and third goals in a 3–0 victory. McDaid played a key part as Waterford won promotion back to the Premier League as league champions. After Waterford beat

Wexford Wexford () is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the island of Ireland. The town is linked to Dublin by the M11/N11 N ...

3-0 and

were defeated 3-0 by

Waterford were officially crowned league champions and promoted back to the

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Premier Division ( ga, Príomhroinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is the top level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland f ...

. McDaid was named in the PFAI First Division team of the year and was nominated for the PFAI First Division Player of the Year award. McDaid left Waterford due to family reasons after establishing himself as a fan favourite.

Larne

McDaid signed for

Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic Ireland, Gaelic territory) is a town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, with a population of 18,755 at the United Kingdom census, 2011, 2011 Census. It is a major passenger and freight Roll-on/ro ...

after leaving

in November 2017 despite interest from Linfield,

Glenavon Glenavon Football Club is a Northern Irish semi-professional football club that competes in the NIFL Premiership. Founded in 1889, the club hails from Lurgan and plays its home matches at Mourneview Park. Club colours are blue and white. Gar ...

and

Ballymena United

On 14 June 2022, it was announced that McDaid had signed a three-year contract to join

Ballymena United Ballymena United Football Club is a semi-professional football club from Northern Ireland. Based in Ballymena, County Antrim, the team competes in the NIFL Premiership and plays home matches at the Ballymena Showgrounds which is owned by the Mi ...

Return to Coleraine

On 24 June 2023, it was announced that McDaid had signed a three-year contract with

International career

Having played for Northern Ireland at Schools Under-18 level, McDaid was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

twice by the Republic of Ireland national under-19 team in 2008. He made his debut after starting a 1–0 friendly home defeat to the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

on 5 February 2008, before appearing as an 85th-minute substitute for Paul Cahillane in another home defeat to the Czechs two days later. Despite this, he continued to be called up by the Northern Ireland Schools Under-18 team. He was called up by the Northern Ireland national under-21 team for a game against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

in August 2012, for which he was an unused substitute.

Career statistics

Honours

Derry City *

League of Ireland First Division The League of Ireland First Division ( ga, Céad Roinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League First Division, is the second level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland football league system. Th ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

League of Ireland Cup The League of Ireland Cup ( ga, Corn Sraithe na hÉireann), also referred to in Ireland as the 'League Cup', is an annual knockout competition in men's football in the Republic of Ireland. It is contested by League of Ireland clubs and invited c ...

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Extra.ie FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as Derry ...

Waterford *

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 ...

Larne *

NIFL Championship The Northern Ireland Football League Championship (known as the Lough 41 Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the second level of the Northern Ireland Football League, the national football league in Northern Ireland. Clubs in the Championshi ...

: 2018–19 *

County Antrim Shield The County Antrim & District Football Association Senior Shield (more commonly known as the County Antrim Shield) is a football competition in Northern Ireland. The competition is open to senior teams who are members of the North East Ulster Foo ...

: 2020–21, 2021–22 Individual * PFAI First Division Team of the Year: 2017 *

Team of the Year: 2018–19

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McDaid, David 1990 births Living people Association footballers from Derry (city) Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers Men's association football forwards Derry City F.C. players Sligo Rovers F.C. players Finn Harps F.C. players York City F.C. players Coleraine F.C. players Cliftonville F.C. players League of Ireland players English Football League players NIFL Premiership players NIFL Championship players A Championship players Ballymena United F.C. players