Crawley Town star praises team mate for 'moment of the night' against MK Dons

The Reds were fantastic as the dominated from the off and goals from Liam Kelly, Jay Williams and Ronan Darcy gave Scott Lindsey’s side a huge advantage going into Saturday’s second leg at Stadium MK. You can a recap of the action here.

And the highlights were aplenty including Will Wright’s astonishing goal line clearance, Corey Addai’s fancy footwork, the build up to Kelly’s and Darcy’s goals and Kalidi Lolos geeing up the fans.

But it was a more poignant and personal moment which caught the eye of defender Wright and many others on social media. After Darcy scored the third goal, he lifted his shirt up to reveal another shirt with the word’s ‘MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS’ on it.

After the game, Wright reposted Darcy’s post match interview on X (formerly twitter) and said: “Moment of the night @ronan_darcy”

Darcy was asked by the Sky Sports interviewer after the game about the shirt and whether it had personal significance. Darcy replied: “Yes it does. It’s a powerful message and I wanted everyone to see it and what better time to do it than when the cameras are here. A lot of people need to look into it more because of lot of people suffer from it. That’s why I did it.”

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Darcy’s brother Ben tweeted: “What a performance from @crawleytown but couldn’t be prouder of my brother @ronan_darcy firstly for his goal but also for using his moment to spread such an important message. Love you Ro.”

And Darcy’s actions was universally praised on social media. @HCFootball01 said: “What a lovely celebration from Ronan Darcy #mentalhealthmatters”

Alex Burke said: “Big shout out to @ronan_darcy. Brilliant when he came on and seemed emotional in that interview when asked about his celebration. Strong message to put out there. Huge respect to him.”

Peter Bellamy said: “Well done Ronan. It’s an important message to get across”

West Ham Rob posted: “I don't have a huge following on here, but I feel everyone who can should repost this. What an absolute hero @ronan_darcy is”

Football insider said: “Ronan Darcy celebrated his goal against MK Dons in the League Two play-off semi-final by showing a strong message on his undershirt. Classy.”

@MindBodySoleUK tweeted: “Mental Health Matters. Thank you @ronan_darcy for highlighting this in your celebration this evening and raising awareness for mental health.”

@BottledUpBlokes reposted the video and said: “Absolutely right. It’s not something that should be hidden and shied away from. Well played @ronan_darcy.”

Christopher Morris said: “This is a great message when so many people from all walks of life are suffering from mental health problems. The person next to you may be smiling on the outside, so take time to listen to those around you. Their words may tell you more. #MentalHealthMatters @SkyFootball”