THE McAteer family are synonymous with Kerrykeel ’71 and Calum McAteer played his part in Sunday’s success.
Calum’s grandfather John Joe was a lifelong club member, founder and long-time manager of Kerrykeel ’71 and was able assisted by his wife Peggy.
John Joe sadly passed his away in 2021.
Peggy remains a key figure in the club along with her daughter Deirdre and her husband Hughie Walsh.
Marty McAteer is part of the Kerrykeel coaching set-up and Calum is carrying on the family tradition on the field.
“Granda would have been very proud,” said Calum.
“It’s nice to be involved. My dad is helping Hughie out as well.
“Granny is delighted as well. This football team is always mentioned. Every single day so it’s great for everyone.”
Kerrykeel won the Donegal Physiotherapy & Performance Centre Division Two last year but were able to back that up this season in the second tier.
“It’s class. Winning back-to-back is a big achievement.
“To be honest I didn’t think we would win it. I thought we might have been mid-table but around half-way through we were going well and said we should be challenging.
“We were able to push on in the second half of the season.
“We lost a couple of boys to injury but we had good depth this year and there was always a man to come in.
“Any man on the bench today could have started.”
McAteer is looking forward to rubbing shoulders with the top teams in the Donegal Junior League next year.
“Hopefully now we can push on and challenge it as well.
“We will look forward to it.”