Player passed away 24 hours after victory over Drogheda United‎

Player passed away 24 hours after victory over Drogheda United‎ 

League of Ireland soccer was in shock on Monday over the sudden death of the captain of Derry City football club.

Ryan McBride was found dead at his home in Derry on Sunday evening. The cause of the 27-year-old’s death is so far unknown.

He passed away just 24 hours after captaining his side to victory over Drogheda United, the club’s fourth win in the League of Ireland so far this season.

The previous week McBride scored Derry City’s winner against Shamrock Rovers and was regarded as one of the talented players in the League of Ireland. McBride came from the Brandywell district of the city where the club’s ground is based.

Ireland’s President Michael D Higgins led the tributes to the Derry skipper.

“Along with all those who support Irish football, I express my sadness and condolences to the family of @derrycityfc Captain Ryan McBride,” President HigginsFormer Manchester United and Republic of Ireland player Paul McGrath also tweeted about the Derry City captain’s sudden death.

“My thoughts are with the family, friends & club mates of Derry City Captain Ryan McBride who has passed away. RIP.”

Derry City fans wrote on their official Twitter page that McBride was “Captain, leader, legend and absolute gentleman.”

Teams from both leagues in the Republic and Northern Ireland expressed their condolences to the McBride family and Derry City.

This is the third tragedy to strike Derry City over the last 12 months. Last year their striker Mark Farren died of a brain tumour at the age of 33. One of the current team’s players Josh Daniels lost his mother, sister, brother-in-law and two nephews after their car skidded along a pier in Buncrana, Co Donegal plunging their vehicle into Lough Swilly.

One of McBride’s friends and former teammate, the Irish international James McClean remembered the Derry City captain.

“We lost someone I had the privilege to play alongside but also on well with off the field, a warrior that literally would throw his body on the line when he pulled on that Derry City jersey, a club that meant so much to him, but more importantly a big gentleman off the field,” the West Bromwich Albion player wrote on Instagram.

The Football Association of Ireland meanwhile announced on Monday that they intend to pay tribute to McBride before the Republic’s World Cup qualifier clash with Wales at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Friday.

John Delaney, the FAI’s CEO, said Irish football was “in mourning with the loss of a true giant of the game.”

Ryan McBride made over 100 league appearances for Derry City making his debut for his home club in 2011 and was part of the team that won the FAI Cup a year later.

Derry City were due to play Limerick in a rescheduled SSE Airtricity Premier League match but that game is now expected to be cancelled.

 

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