Declan Devine (born 15 September 1973) is a Northern Irish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former player who is manager of

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club based in East Belfast, Northern Ireland, that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882 and has since won more than 130 major honours. They are one of three Northern Iris ...

in the

NIFL Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Sports Direct Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and Irish Premiership colloquially, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northern Ireland Football L ...

. Devine has played for and managed his hometown club Derry City in the

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Men's Premier Division (), also known as the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Republic of Ireland and the highest level of the Republic of I ...

Playing career

Devine began his career with

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

but was unable to make the breakthrough at

Portman Road Portman Road is a association football, football stadium in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, which has been the home ground of Ipswich Town F.C., Ipswich Town since 1884. The stadium has also hosted many England youth international matches, and one E ...

and returned home. Devine then plied his trade with a number of Irish League clubs as well as Derry City and won the Ulster Young Footballer of the Year Award in 1994 when playing for Roy McCreadie's Omagh Town side. Devine was capped right up to U-21 level with Northern Ireland, winning an U-21 cap in a 0–0 draw against

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

in 1994. He had success with

, helping them to defeat Glenavon in the

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Clearer Water Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary Association football, football single elimination, knockout cup compet ...

final in the 1995–96 season. However, at the end of that season Devine moved to the

Brandywell The Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium () is a municipal football stadium in Derry, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of League of Ireland team Derry City F.C., (temporarily) NIFL Championship team Institute, and also to NIWFA Championship ...

for a combined fee of £42,000 which included Liam Coyle, where he provided backup to Tony O'Dowd as Derry City went on to win the title.

Managerial career

Having stopped playing at the end of the 2001–02 season, Devine became involved in coaching at an underage level. He returned to Derry City as the Youth Development officer in 2003 and was initially involved in the delivery of the community coaching and Football in the Community programmes which were run by the club at that time. The installation of former teammate, Gavin Dykes, as manager in 2003 meant a promotion for Devine and he took on the role of first team coach. Stephen Kenny opted to retain Devine as first team coach when he arrived at the club the following season, and the back room setup, including

Paul Hegarty Paul Anthony Hegarty (born 25 July 1954) is a Scottish football player and manager. He was captain of Dundee United during their most successful era in the 1970s and 1980s, winning the Scottish league championship in 1983 and the Scottish Le ...

, guided Derry City to successive second-place finishes as well as success in the FAI Cup, League Cup and memorable European runs. Following this success, Kenny lured Devine to join him at

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently compete in the after winning the 2022–23 Scottish League One title. Dunfermline play at ...

when he left for

East End Park East End Park, currently named KDM Group East End Park for sponsorship purposes, is a football stadium situated in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland with a seating capacity of . The stadium plays host to the home matches of side, Dunfermline Athle ...

and he was appointed first team coach there on 5 December 2006. Devine described the move as a "massive wrench" but felt for personal reasons that he needed to move on. However, after Stephen Kenny's return to Derry City in late 2007, Devine, too followed him back to the club. He was instrumental in guiding the team to the First Division title and a third-place finish in the 2011 season. Following the departure of Stephen Kenny to

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional Association football, football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is List of football clubs by competit ...

in December 2011, Devine was appointed manager of Derry City on 6 January 2012, beating off Willie McStay to land the post. He agreed a two-year deal along with Paul Hegarty who was appointed as his assistant manager. In his first season in charge, the club finished 5th in the league, won the

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Sports Direct FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as D ...

, and were runners-up in the

Setanta Sports Cup The Setanta Sports Cup was a club football (soccer), football competition featuring teams from both football associations on the island of Ireland. Inaugurated in 2005, it was a cross-border competition between clubs in the League of Ireland from ...

. In the wake of this success, Devine signed a one-year contract extension to keep him at the club until the end of the 2014 season. At the beginning of his second season in charge, after an opening day defeat to

Sligo Rovers Sligo Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional association football, football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club is based in Sligo in the west of Ireland. The club was founded in 1928 and have been in ...

, Devine guided his team to a 10-match unbeaten run and top of the table until they were defeated again by Sligo in the second series of fixtures. Devine left by mutual consent at the end of the season despite having qualified for Europe and a 6–0 victory against Limerick. Prior to the 2014 League of Ireland season, Devine was linked with the assistant manager post at champions St. Patrick's Athletic, however he turned this down in favour of becoming an underage coach in the Elite Performance Club NI scheme. Devine, along with former Derry City player

Pascal Vaudequin Pascal Vaudequin, born on September 22, 1966, is a French former footballer with a distinguished career both on and off the pitch. He notably spent a significant part of his playing career in the League of Ireland. Following his playing days, Va ...

, will work with youth players in the west of Northern Ireland. He returned to managing Derry City in 2019, serving until 2021. Devine served as manager of

Bohemians Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a f ...

from October 2022 until March 2024.

Honours

Managerial

Glentoran *

County Antrim Shield The County Antrim & District Football Association Senior Shield (more commonly known as the County Antrim Shield) is a football competition in Northern Ireland. The competition is open to senior teams who are members of the North East Ulster F ...

: 2024–25

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devine, Declan 1973 births Living people Derry City F.C. players League of Ireland players Derry City F.C. managers Institute F.C. players Glentoran F.C. players Omagh Town F.C. players League of Ireland managers NIFL Premiership players Men's association football goalkeepers Association footballers from Derry (city) Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Association football managers from Northern Ireland Glentoran F.C. managers NIFL Premiership managers Bohemian F.C. managers