DANO KELLY is hoping for a strong second half to the season after admitting it took him time to settle in Derry.
Along with Patrick Hoban, Kelly swapped Dundalk for Derry City in the close-season.
He was not the only familiar face as he had played alongside Mark Connolly, Will Patching, Patrick McEleney, Cameron Dummigan and Michael Duffy at Oriel Park.
He also knew boss Ruaidhrí Higgins from his time on Stephen Kenny’s staff at the Lilywhites.
But, for all that they and others at the club made him feel welcome, the self-confessed homebird found it difficult being away from his home comforts.
Kelly, 28, said: “It was a big change, I’d lived with my ma and da all my life, since I was born really.
“So it’s been difficult even though the lads did their best.
“My missus Claudia is down in Dublin and I’m not going to lie, it took me a while to adjust.
“But in the last few weeks I’ve been settling in a lot better.
“Claudia comes up when she can and my ma and da are up for the Drogheda game this week.”
And even during the mid-season break he was close by a team-mate, as he and Hoban and their partners holidayed in Mallorca together.
The pair went away in good spirits after Danny Mullen’s stoppage-time goal saw the Candystripes win 2-1 at Dalymount Park two weeks ago.
Kelly said: “We knew it was going to be tough but the performance was very good. Bohs are resilient.
“Alan Reynolds and Stevie O’Donnell have them set up well.
“I know we scored late on but we deserved to beat them. It was the same in the home game.”
It was their third win on the trot — as part of a five-game unbeaten run — and kept them within two points of leaders Shelbourne, although the Candystripes have played a game more.
And their winger said: “In some respects, the break came at the wrong time because we were on a good little run, which was a long time coming because we’d no consistency.”
Kelly came on for the last 16 minutes against his former club.
He had started nine of Derry’s first 16 games but managed just 80 minutes in the last seven matches before the break.
He admitted it is not ideal but believes there will be more to come from him at the business end of the season.
Kelly said: “I didn’t start the season great, I was carrying a couple of niggles, and it’s tough because we’ve a good squad of players.
“And when we are winning, it’s hard to change the team.
“If I was playing and we were winning, I’d expect to stay in.
“I just have to bide my time.
“I have had chats with Ruaidhrí and I’ve worked with a couple of things. He said that I was training well and to keep at it.
“Europe is coming up and so is the FAI Cup.
“This is where the season gets interesting.
“Usually the first half of the season people forget about.
“People will remember what you do in the second and I hope to have a big impact.”
EUROPEAN NIGHTS
In the space of ten days next month, Derry will play Bruno’s Magpies away and then at home in the Europa Conference League before hosting St Pat’s in the Cup.
And, having overcome the Gibraltar outfit with Dundalk last season, he has an idea of what to expect.
Kelly said: “They’ve changed manager so they might be a bit different but I’d imagine we’ll be favourites going into the tie.
But with Dundalk we didn’t beat them over there.
“The heat was a huge factor, we couldn’t break them down and they could have nicked it but we beat them at home then.”