DERRY CITY are on the ropes after Friday’s 3-1 opening defeat to Shelbourne.
Already, some people might be writing off the Candystripes’ chances of winning the Premier Division title they came close to claiming last year.
But Liam Boyce, their new striker who signed in January, is no stranger to conflict and doubters.
He grew up on Divis Street on the Falls Road in Belfast.
The area has been the scene of political tension through the decades, although Boyce was born more than 20 years after incidents such as the 1969 Northern Ireland riots and the Falls Curfew.
Nonetheless, it remained “a rough area” after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and throughout Boyce’s childhood.
So for the youngster, countless hours of football was a form of escape that his family encouraged.
“There were a lot of stolen cars, stuff like that. Just a typical rough West Belfast area, but to be fair, my parents and my family were brilliant. They knew I loved football.
“Basically every opportunity I got, they made me go to football. It was probably to keep me away from the street corners. So I just did that — every day, I used to go to the leisure centre and play football.”
Even as a youngster, the future Northern Ireland international never considered himself the best player on the team but was determined to “stick at it”.
His brother John, who was three years older, had a similar love for the game and was talented enough to get trials at Celtic but never went as far as he wanted.
Consequently, not a day goes by without Boyce reminding himself how fortunate he is to be a professional footballer.
“Even when you’re not playing in the team, it’s easy to get down, but it always made me think: ‘It’s my job to go and play football.’ So it helped me through tough times, and having that mentality got me as far as I’ve got.”
It was at Cliftonville where Boyce initially established himself.
The teenager had enough impact with the NIFL Premiership side that he attracted interest from Germany.
The young striker initially looked to be on his way to second-tier side Greuther Fürth.
But despite Boyce scoring a hat-trick in a friendly for the club, the club were vying for promotion at the time and decided they wanted a more experienced forward.
A crestfallen Boyce returned home, playing and scoring for Cliftonville the following Friday night against Crusaders.
He woke up the next morning to find five missed calls on his phone. It was Transfer Deadline Day, and Boyce realised he needed to get on the next flight to Germany as Werder Bremen wanted to sign him.
“It was a bit mental,” he adds. “I woke up after [the previous night’s] game thinking I had a day off.”
Boyce enjoyed the first year, playing with Werder Bremen II — essentially the U23 side — in the German third tier.
Yet unfortunately for the Belfast native, the underage team playing below them happened to be extremely talented and won the German Youth Cup.
“So they started clearing everyone out so all the U19s could come up,” Boyce explains. “And then I stayed for six more months and played a few games, but I knew it wasn’t going to be staying for longer, and that’s when I started going on trial and stuff.”
Boyce appreciated getting the chance to train in top facilities but the post-Bremen period was the most difficult of his career.
“I went on trial everywhere,” he recalls. “I went to Kilmarnock for six weeks. They didn’t want me. I went to Oxford for two weeks. They didn’t want me. I even went to Aldershot, who were in the Conference, and they didn’t want me.
“That’s when my head went a bit.
“Then I came back and signed for Clintonville. Tommy Breslin was the manager. He was massive for me. And like, our squad, we’re all mates from the same area, and you’re just thinking: ‘Just have fun again. You’re just playing with your mates, and then all the good things came off it.’ So I clung on to that [idea] — I need to have fun playing and not put too much pressure on myself.”
In his career, Boyce has won two Irish Premiership titles, the Scottish League Cup and the Scottish Championship, in addition to playing in two Scottish Cup finals, scoring in one — a heartbreaking penalty shootout defeat to Celtic.
But he considers one moment in his career above all others in terms of significance.
“When I came back to Cliftonville, I was in the reserves with [now the club’s record goalscorer] Joe Gormley for six months, and then we were in the European qualifiers. I got put on and within a minute, we took a goal kick. I took it down, went past someone and scored.
“And I always think in my head, that was the one moment that everything changed from being negative.
“Bressie helped me because I wasn’t playing and no one wanted me, and I came home and it was going to shit.
“And that one moment, that goal changed everything for me, with Bressie putting his trust in me and putting me on [in a 1-0 win against Kalmar].
“I think that probably was the biggest moment that turned everything for me.”
It was a significant moment for Cliftonville too — their first-ever win in a European game at Solitude.
Boyce continues: “You do feel like shit and stuff once you go through it and come out the other side, you can sort of deal with it better, but I just think that showed me, football is so [on a] week to week basis, one week you’re the worst player in the world, the next you’re the best.
“So you just need to keep plugging away. And it just takes one moment like that goal for everything to change, and then balls come in the box and hit you in the face, go in, and you don’t even mean it.”
For Boyce, that moment paved the way for many great days that followed, including 28 Northern Ireland caps.
“When I started winning stuff at Cliftonville, I came to the end of that contract, and that’s when I got the chance to go full-time again.
“And I never thought I would get another chance, because it’s really hard to come back and you’re leaving again when you’re 23-24 — it was tougher, especially in those days. But because I was free, I got that chance, and then thankfully it paid off.”
Boyce has had setbacks since then. After starring for three seasons in the Scottish Premiership at Ross County, he earned a move to the Championship with Burton Albion.
But an injury suffered in pre-season meant he missed most of the campaign, as the club suffered the heartache of relegation on the final day.
“That’s probably one thing I would think about, it’s all ifs and buts, but if I was playing the whole season, we’d have stayed up,” he adds.
Boyce enjoyed memorable days at Hearts in the last five years, playing in Europe and regularly challenging near the top of the league, with the striker finishing as the club’s top scorer two seasons on the bounce (2020-21 and 2021-22).
He ultimately knew his time at the club was up, however, “because I wasn’t playing”.
There were offers to stay in Scotland but a two-year contract and the chance to remain a full-time professional at Derry proved too alluring to turn down.
Among other attractions, Boyce has been impressed by Derry GAA’s Owenbeg Centre of Excellence, which the soccer club will use temporarily while they build their training complex.
“It just sounded like [Tiernan Lynch] wanted it to be really professional and I was used to that at Hearts. And now I’ve come here, it’s basically the same sort of standards, and you just want to be playing with the best facilities, the best players, and that was basically what made my mind up.
“I think the standards of the League of Ireland have always been really high – full-time teams, you can see the coaching is really good, they’re all set up well, the teams are doing well in Europe — it’s just a good thing to be part of.”
Great article. Best of luck with your career
Cap him