Letterkenny and Drumkeen book league cup final tickets

LETTERKENNY ROVERS left Station Road in St Johnston the winners by the odd goal in five against Kildrum Tigers to set-up a League Cup final meeting with with Drumkeen United, who beat Fanad United 2-1.

Kildrum Tigers 2

Letterkenny Rovers 3

Davitt Walsh opened the scoring for the visitors 15 seconds in and although Cormac Carlin levelled for the hosts thereafter, it was Rovers who shone through thanks to goals from Chris Malseed and Garbhan Grant. Carlin’s second of the day for Kildrum deep in stoppage time was merely consolation.

Rovers went into the lead in the first minute when Alan Boal got in behind Mark Callahgan, who had slipped and Walsh shot beyond goalkeeper Michael Lynch, who was drafted into the first team because of an injury to regular netminder Marty McGinty.

Raymond McDaid’s Kildrum team were level on 11 minutes when, Carlin scored from the penalty spot after Darren Doran had been taken down in the penalty area by Glen Hamilton. Their joy was short-lived, however, as on 31 minutes, a long throw-in by Jonathan Minnock was flicked on and Malseed nipped in to punish some poor defending.

Rovers, though, went 3-1 u when a flowing move that involved James Gallagher in goal, Dan O’Donnell on the left and then Walsh and Mark Harkin. His centre was dispatched by Grant.

Kildrum had the wind after the break and Darren McCready brought out two smart saves from Gallagher in the Rovers goal. Letterkenny’s defence was finally breached in the 90th minute when Ronan Coyle picked out Carlin to pull one back. In a bid to find an equaliser, in stoppage time Kildrum’s Damien Crossan did well to get to the byline but his inviting cross was inches away from McMenamin, who then raced clear only to fire agonisingly over the crossbar.

Kildrum Tigers: Michael Lynch; Johnny McGinty, Dermot Kelly, Ryan McGarvey (Gavin Doherty 80), Mark Callaghan (Barry O’Donnell 46); Oisin McMenamin, Damian Crossan, Darren McCready, Gary Crossan (Ronan Coyle 69); Darren Doran, Cormac Carlin.

Letterkenny Rovers: James Gallagher; Alan Boal (Garbhan Grant 31), Conal McGonigle, Glen Hamilton, Jonathan Minnock; Chris Malseed, Graham Cullen, Mark Forker, Dan O’Donnell; Mark Harkin, Davitt Walsh.

Referee: Tommy McAree.

Fanad United 1

Drumkeen United 2

Drumkeen United pulled off something of a surprise as they defeated Fanad United 2-1 in the Donegal News League Cup semi-final on Sunday.

Goals from Richie Moore and substitute Jamie Gallagher gave the visitors a two-goal cushion heading into the final twenty minutes. Seamie ‘Nanny’ Friel did pull one back in the first minutes of stoppage time but it was the side managed to Benny Bonner that held on to win.

Drumkeen broke the deadlock on 20 minutes following a wonderful cross-field pass by player-manager Bonner, which set Moore away to head the opener over Sean Black.

From a Paul McCauley clearance, Drumkeen went two in front. Gallagher rounded Black before coolly slotting into the empty net.

A clumsy tackle on Shane Buchannan earned the hosts a free 25 yards out and Seamie Friel produced an unstoppable drive into the top corner to half the deficit.

Drumkeen held on though and booked their final tickets against Letterkenny Rovers, with the final due to take place on July 29 at a venue yet to be confirmed.  

Fanad United: Sean Black; Brian McVeigh (Miley McBride 80), Seamus ‘Nanny’ Friel, Kieran Gorman, Trevor Gethins; Christy Connaghan, Paul Friel, Paddy McGrenaghan, Alan Gethins; Darragh Patton (Patrick Patton 53), Shane Buchannan.

Drumkeen United: Paul McCauley; Conor McNulty, Ryan Gildea, Shaun Gallagher(Peter McNamee 71), Benny Bonner; Richie Moore, Chris Kyle, David Craig (Eunan Doherty 88) Gary Patton (Jamie Gallagher 61), Sean Ferry; Conor Carlin.

Referee: Paul Duddy.

Ulster Senior League

Bonagee United 0

Swilly Rovers 5

Swilly Rovers enjoyed their biggest win of the season against an out-of-sorts Bonagee United.

After a scoreless first half, Swilly began the second half well and were two up inside six minutes of the restart. Their first arrived in the 48th minute, when a poor clearance by Glen Rainey fell to the feet of Marty McDaid and he had the simplest task of steering the ball into the corner of the net. They doubled their advantage three minutes later, this time McDaid got his second when he flicked home a Laurence Toland corner. With Bonagee struggling to breakdown the Swilly defence, goal number three came in the 65th minute, when a long kickout from Gareth Wade was not dealt with properly by Bonagee and Toland smashed a volley into the roof of the net. It was four in the 67th minute, when Kyle Black’s free kick into the area was helped into the net by Columba O’Donnell via a Bonagee defender. The rout was completed in the 86th minute when ex-Bonagee player, Ryan McDaid, squeezed the ball home at the back post following a Black cross. 

DPD First Division

Letterkenny Rovers 0

Kildrum Tigers 3

Kildrum Tigers proved too strong for Letterkenny Rovers in this First Division clash at Leckview Park as the St Johnston men ran out comfortable 3-0 winners.

Leading 2-0 at the break through goals from Kevin Doran and Gareth Colhoun, the Tigers wrapped up the victory with a third from Shane McIntyre midway through the second half. The visitors always looked in control with Glen Bovaird and former Rovers youth team player William Lynch pulling the strings against a largely inexperienced Rovers side.

The home defence was caught out early in the game when Doran latched onto a long ball over the defence before showing excellent composure to slot the ball past goalkeeper Jordan McBride. Doran was to have a hand in all three goals as he set-up Colhoun to make it 2-0 on the half-hour mark. The third and final goal came on 65 minutes. Doran raced cleared down the right hand side before drilling in a low cross which was converted at the near post by the unmarked Shane McIntyre.

Bonagee United Reserves 1

Swilly Rovers Reserves 0

Played in windy conditions on Friday night, Bonagee defeated and cup finalists Swilly Rovers.  Both managers opted for youthful selections, and to their credit served up an entertaining game, with Swilly fielding no less than six of last year’s U-16 side that done so well in National competition, when they reached the semi-final stage.

The all-important goal arrived in the 66th minute, when Jason Doherty rolled the ball into the net for his fourth goal in two games. Swilly had chances after that to equalise through Ronan Curtis and Oisin Duffy, but Bonagee keeper David Tyrrell was equal to anything thrown at him. 

Results

Ulster Senior League

Bonagee United 0-5 Swilly Rovers

*Match reversed to Bonagee

Donegal News League Cup semi-finals

Kildrum Tigers 2-3 Letterkenny Rovers

Fanad United 1-2 Drumkeen United

DPD First Division

Letterkenny Rovers 0-3 Kildrum Tigers

Bonagee United 1-0 Swilly Rovers Reserves

Fixtures

Wednesday, 7:30pm

Ulster Senior League

Derry City Reserves v Letterkenny Rovers - P Coll

Buncrana Hearts v Fanad United - S Toner

Drumkeen United v Cockhill Celtic - P Duddy

Bonagee United v Kildrum Tigers - T Moyne

Thursday, 7:30pm (extra-time and penalties if required)

Fst Division League Cup final, Leckview Park

Kildrum Tigers v Swilly Rovers

Friday, 7:45pm

Ulster Senior League

Fanad United v Letterkenny Rovers - S Toner; D McCafferty and J McHugh

Saturday, 6pm

Swilly Rovers v Drumkeen United - T McAree

Saturday, 7pm

Cockhill Celtic v Bonagee United - P Coll

Sunday, 2pm

Kildrum Tigers v Buncrana Hearts - D McCafferty