Mark McChrystal

Mark Thomas McChrystal (born 26 June 1984) is a Northern Irish professional footballer who plays for Derry City. Born in Derry, County Londonderry, he is a left-footed defender, he has in the past also captained the Northern Ireland under-21 side.

Club Career

McChrystal began his career at Wolverhampton Wanderers where he was one of a plethora of young players from Northern Ireland playing there. After spending three years at Molineux, including a spell on loan at Bradford City in 2003, he was released by the Midlands club and he eventually returned home to sign for his local team Derry City of the League of Ireland in April 2003, despite interest from other English clubs. He was then loaned out to near neighbours Institute by Dermot Keely on a three-month deal.

His stay in the Irish League was short-lived however, and after just six games for the club, he picked up an injury in the quarter-final of the North-West Cup against Moyola Park which hastened his return to Derry City. He fought his way back into the team under Gavin Dykes and Peter Hutton but did not appear regularly during the reign of Stephen Kenny due to stiff competition in defence. Seen to be surplus to demands, he was released on 14 December 2006 after the appointment of Pat Fenlon as manager.

Within a month he had moved to Glasgow-based club, Partick Thistle. He made his Jags debut in a 2–0 defeat by Clyde on 2 January 2007 and was a regular through to the end of the season. He scored his only goal in a 4–3 defeat by Queen of the South as Partick almost came back from 4–0 down.

He re-signed for Derry City in August 2007 after turning down a move to Glentoran and being released by new Thistle manager Ian McCall. The following year he collected his first major honours, a winner's medal in the League Cup as Wexford Youths were routed 6–1 and a runners-up medal following an FAI Cup Final penalty shoot-out defeat by Bohemians.

Unhappy with his limited first team chances after returning from a broken cheekbone