Derry City have won the race to sign UCD striker Colm Whelan, bringing the former Republic of Ireland Under-21 player to the Ryan McBride Brandywell on a two-year contract.The 22-year-old was prolific during his time with the Students, netting 44 times in 66 games, before a cruciate ligament injury brought his maiden Premier Division campaign to an early end in the summer.Prior to the injury a host of clubs were tracking Whelan, including Shamrock Rovers and League 1 side Lincoln City.He is expected to be fit for the new season as he links up with the FAI Cup holders.City boss Ruaidhri Higgins is thrilled to get his man: "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 was a spectator as City won the Cup, seeing enough to convince him his future was with this season's league runners-up.He said: "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 "It's another blow to UCD after fellow striker Tommy Longeran joined St Patrick's Athletic, leaving Andy Myler light on options in attack for the 2023 campaign.