Colm Whelan completes Derry City switch 

The striker had attracted interest within the League of Ireland, as well as across the water.

GOAL-GETTER: Colm Whelan celebrates during his time at UCD.

Former Ireland U-21 striker Colm Whelan has put pen-to-paper on a two-year deal with Derry City.

Whelan has swapped UCD for the Brandywell, just as Shamrock Rovers looked to entice the Kilkenny native into a move to Tallaght. 

He scored 44 goals in 66 appearances while playing for UCD, but his first Premier Division season was cut short in the summer by an ACL injury.

The 21-year-old had looked destined for Lincoln City and England's third tier prior to suffering the horror injury. 

The striker's departure comes as a major blow to the Students as they have already lost another attacker in the form of Tommy Lonergan, who has returned to St. Patrick's Athletic.

Derry manager Ruaidhri Higgins spoke of his delight at getting the deal for the youngster over the line.

"We are delighted to welcome Colm to the club. He is a player with an extremely bright future in the game.

"He has a lot of games under his belt at such a young age and has a fantastic goalscoring record.

"The staff and I are really excited to get working with Colm and helping him develop further at Derry City."

Whelan - who was a spectator as Derry beat Shelbourne to win the cup - is looking forward to many good nights at the Brandywell.

"I watched the FAI Cup final and was really impressed by what Derry and their fans did that weekend.

"I've only played once at the Brandywell so far - a 7-1 defeat - so I'll have to make sure there are many better nights than that one.

"I can't wait to get started and can promise supporters a lot of hard work and hopefully a lot of goals "