Mark McChrystal

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Mark McChrystal (b. June 26, 1984, Derry, Northern Ireland) is a Northern Irish footballer who currently plays for Derry City F.C.. McChrystal, a left-footed defender, is also the current captain of the Northern Ireland under-21 side.

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, McChrystal was released by the Midlands club and he eventually returned home to sign for his local team Derry City FC of the League of Ireland in April 2003, despite interest from other English clubs. He was then loaned out to near neighbours Institute F.C. by Dermot Keely on a three-month deal.

His stay in the Irish League was short-lived however, and after just six games for Institute, McChrystal 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.

McChrystal currently has 3 under-21 caps for Northern Ireland and represented them against Switzerland and Scotland. He had previously represented Northern Ireland at both schoolboy and under-19 level.

He re-signed for City at the start of the 07/08 season after being released by new Thistle manager Ian McCall