HELL HATH NO fury like a striker scorned.
Especially one that reached double figures in the Premier Division last season, became his club’s all-time record scorer, and was then told at the end of it all that his services were no longer required.
Even with another year to go on his contract.
When people talk about a lack of loyalty from players in the game it is no wonder they laugh at hypocrisy.
Patrick Hoban’s parting of the ways with Dundalk has not been amicable.
He was told last October that he could leave Oriel Park but he was not prepared to go over old ground.
“That’s something you can ask Dundalk Football Club,” he said.
It was one of the only bits of tetchiness at his unveiling as Derry City’s new leading man on a two-year contract yesterday.
“There was no point of me staying. That’s all I’m going to say really. There was no point at all where I was going to be staying at Oriel Park. I was told what I was told 11 weeks ago and that was it. I’m a Derry City footballer now and that’s all my focus is on,” Hoban said.
Hoban spoke about his desire to climb back to the “top of the mountain” now that he has headed north to Derry. He said winning the Premier Division title was the aim, something chairman and billionaire benefactor Philip O’Doherty also targeted after manager Ruadhrí Higgins won the FAI Cup in 2022.
That success at Aviva Stadium was supposed to be a springboard for something bigger last season but Derry’s firepower let them down in a year when Shamrock Rovers stuttered for large parts of the campaign but still ended up comfortable winners of their fourth title in a row.
Higgins’ side had the best defence in the league (conceding just 24 goals) but scored 10 fewer than Rovers, two fewer than Hoban’s old club who finished fifth, and just four more than Bohemians in sixth.
Derry’s only other signing this winter, winger Daniel Kelly, also arrived from the Louth club and The Candystripes’ boss insisted their business in the transfer market is now done.
He pin-pointed two areas that needed strengthening and of all the number crunching that took place it wasn’t the salary or length of contract for the experienced striker that sealed the deal for Higgins.
“One thing that Pat thrives off is crosses in the box and we had the most in the league by a distance last year,” the manager said.
“We averaged 17 crosses a game which will make him smile. If we can repeat that again and put good delivery in the box, he’ll be a man to get on the end of stuff.
“Probably the most impressive thing about his numbers is that half his goals were the first goal for his club in the game. Either he put his team in front, equalised or got them back in the game, so big, big goals and he’s a big game player.
Derry’s joint top scorers last season were midfielders Will Patching and Jordan McEneff who both scored eight times. Hoban, who turns 33 in July, actually had his best return in front of goal last season since he netted 29 times in a title-winning season of 2019.
His 14 goals saw him fall just one short of Shelbourne’s Jack Moylan and Bohemians’ Jonathan Afolabi, both of whom have since departed for Lincoln City in England’s League One and K.V. Kortrijk in the Belgian Pro League, respectively.
Hoban last won the league title in 2019, his 13 goals going some way to delivering that piece of success.
It’s coming up on five years since that triumph and in the intervening period from 2020 to 2023 Dunalk finished third, sixth, third and fifth.
The 2020 campaign was reduced to 18 fixtures due to the outbreak of Covid-19 but Hoban still scored 10 times, following that up with 12 the following year, nine in 2022 and then 14 last term.
A decade ago – in the last season of his first spell at Dundalk before moving to England, Hoban scored 20 times.
That is a figure that should not be beyond him in 2024.
St Patrick’s Athletic showed last year with the resurgence under Jon Daly that they are capable of being a serious player in the mix. They opted to bring in Ruairi Keating from Cork City to spearhead their attack while the champions were able to entice Rory Gaffney to remain at Tallaght Stadium with an improved contract offer after Derry also showed their interest in the Tuam native.
For Hoban, the nature of his Dundalk exit and the expectation to deliver success are all the motivation he needs.
“I always feel I have something to prove. You always have someone doubting you out there,” he said. “I obviously still have my doubters and I want to prove everyone wrong. Coming up here there is always something to prove, of course there is. I’m coming up here to try and win a league, not to just dwindle down my career.
“I always feel like I have a point to prove but that’s how I get the best out of myself. That’s the way I’ve always been.”
Hoban’s transfer adds an element of anger to the upcoming title race and a different dimension to Derry’s challenge.
It could provide the short-term impetus for them to be capable of staging a sustained threat to Rovers’ dominance in 2024.