IrelandThe Iranian warhorse, centre back Dan is the sole Irishman of the Dragoons.
Finnegan played youth football back home in Ireland for Kingdom Boys from 2002 to 2008. Whilst with the club, Daniel won a couple of local league titles and a domestic cup too. In 2004, an invite to play in the Helsinki Cup saw the side reach the quarter finals, losing on penalties to HJK Helsinki.
A fun fact, Dan’s coach at Kingdom Boys was Brian McCarthy, who later became a long serving technical analyst for the Irish national side!
Dan briefly took a break from playing to concentrate on his studies and later played Biznesliga and FLS in Kraków, where a miscommunication saw Finnegan suddenly and accidently become an Iranian national, hence the nickname!
Finnegan typifies the old-school centre back. If you flung a kitchen sink in the air, a loud, hearty “FINNEGAN’S” will break out and be headed back to you. A tough tackling, no-nonsense defender, Dan is a founding member of the Dragoons.
Like with Dani Silva, Finnegan played in the weekly kickabouts, the Sunday League and is often around the squad in B Klasa. When he is not playing, Dan seconds up as the club treasurer, often the bane of player’s lives in collecting fees! He scored his first Dragoons goal against Universum in the 19/20 season. Typically, he rose like a salmon to plant a header into the net from close range.
Finnegan’s favourite Dragoons moment is the first official game as a MZPN side, the 6-0 victory over Fairant in the Puchar Polski, which also served as his competitive debut for the side. The author must add that a particular fond memory of Mr Finnegan is the 7-1 demolition of WKS Wawel in the 19/20 season. The Centre back had only just run onto the pitch as a substitute when he grabbed the Dragoons 6th goal. A long-throw into the box saw Finnegan chest the ball against the bar, his follow up header again hit the bar, a shinned shot saved, before finally poking home at the fourth bite of the cherry.
Away from the pitch, Daniel follows the fortunes of English giants Liverpool and unsurprisingly selected Jamie Carragher and Sami Hyypia as his football idols.
