{"id":676093,"date":"2026-09-07T00:55:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T00:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/676093\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T00:55:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T00:55:22","slug":"derry-city-boss-gave-blunt-james-mcclean-update-after-fai-cup-qf-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/676093\/","title":{"rendered":"Derry City Boss Gave Blunt James McClean Update After FAI Cup QF Win"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>James McClean remains training with Derry City despite widespread reports that his contract with the club had been terminated after a tumultuous few weeks.<\/p>\n<p>McClean has been outspoken about his situation at Derry City for some time now, and reports last month suggested his contract with the Candystripes would be terminated.<\/p>\n<p>Former Derry boss Tiernan Lynch found himself on the receiving end of social media criticism from McClean before his dismissal.<\/p>\n<p>\n        Recommended\n    <\/p>\n<p>                        <a :href=\"https:\/\/www.balls.ie\/football\/article.url\" :title=\"article.title\" :aria-label=\"article.title\" class=\"not-prose col-span-2 md:col-span-1 ga-event\" data-category=\"Recommended Article Tracker\" data-action=\"click\" :data-label=\"https:\/\/www.balls.ie\/football\/article.url\" :data-value=\"https:\/\/www.balls.ie\/football\/article.url\"><\/p>\n<p>                                            <img class=\"aspect-video\" width=\"130\" height=\"73\" :src=\"https:\/\/www.balls.ie\/football\/article.image\" :alt=\"'Image for: ' + article.title\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><\/p>\n<p>It has been a tough campaign for the Candystripes but they had something to cheer about after Michael Duffy did his thing in a 4-2 win over Dundalk on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>That victory sees them reach the FAI Cup semi-finals and they will travel to take on Galway United at the end of this month.<\/p>\n<p>Mark Connolly offers James McClean update<\/p>\n<p>Connolly spoke to RT\u00c9&#8217;s Tony O&#8217;Donoghue after the win, and was asked about whether the decorated Ireland international could be restored to the matchday squad with a potential FAI Cup success in their grasp.<\/p>\n<p>However the former Derry veteran was cryptic in his response, giving little clear indication that McClean could return to the pitch in a competitive capacity.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>James has been training like you said, but we have just stuck with the same squad over the last few weeks as you can see,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;At the moment, this is just where we are&#8230; Obviously he wasn&#8217;t in the squad today and that is just where we are at.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Every player is always considered but that is just where the squad was and what we picked.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Derry City last won the FAI Cup in 2022 and McClean was famously in attendance as a supporter on the day as he cheered on what was, at the time, his former side.<\/p>\n<p>SEE ALSO: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.balls.ie\/football\/martin-oneill-liam-scales-tribute-celtic-st-mirren-662712\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Martin O&#8217;Neill Paid Emotional Tribute To Liam Scales After Celtic Heroics<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"James McClean remains training with Derry City despite widespread reports that his contract with the club had been&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676094,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[76],"tags":[18,19,17,76826,132],"class_list":["post-676093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-james-mcclean","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117227036868681071","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}