BY RYAN FERRY
LETTERKENNY Rovers coach Anthony Gorman says his club are excited about the League of Ireland Third Tier but have put it on the back burner until this campaign is over, and their full focus is on a Brian McCormick Cup Area Shield Final against Bonagee United this Sunday.
From Autumn 2026, Rovers and Bonagee will play their derbies in the new FAI National League.
Both clubs are among 15 clubs that have been accepted into the new third along with sides from Dublin, Mayo, Galway, Cork, Kerry, Kildare, Waterford, and CarlowKilkenny.
Exciting times lie ahead but Gorman, who is part of Stephen McConnell’s management ticket, doesn’t want to get distracted looking too far ahead.
They still have their eyes set on retaining the Donegal League Premier Division, Ulster Cup and Brian McCormick Cup.
“I think it’s a great credit to the club and the committee that they have had the vision and the foresight and the ambition to enter and compete in this division,” said Gorman.
“You have to say the same for Bonagee and Cockhill for seeing it as worthwhile to step up and test themselves.
“From a coach’s point of view, it’s obviously going to be exciting next season but we can’t really look too far ahead.
“We still have a lot of football to play this year in the Donegal League and a lot of big games to play hopefully.
“So the main focus at this stage is still our Donegal League campaign and how far we can progress in competitions.
“While it’s exciting to think about playing third tier League of Ireland football, I think it has to be put on the back burner until this season is over.
“But there’s an awful lot of work going on in the background with the committee to make sure everything is in place for us for next season.”
Rovers are currently five points ahead of Bonagee with a game more played in the Premier Division.
The Leckview Park side were stung when beaten 3-0 by Bonagee earlier in the campaign but have recovered well and have defeated Glenea United and St Catherine’s in tight games since the turn of the year.
“We’re happy enough with the way things are going.
“Obviously we were supposed to play this Area Final earlier in the season but it was scheduled for the day that God rest him Victor Fisher was buried so all club activities were cancelled at that time.
“We are only getting around to it now but in terms of how things are going for us, we are happy enough. We’re still competing on all fronts.
“We played Bonagee at the start of the season and were deservedly beaten.
“It’s too easy to say it was our worst performance in two-and-a-half to three years but that would do a discredit to Bonagee because they were better than us all over the park that day and we had no qualms about the defeat.
“Since then the boys have knuckled down and they have realised that every game we have played has been a difficult game.
“We had Kildrum away and scored in the 94th minute and Kilmacrennan at home where we scored the winner in the 95th minute and we played Keadue at home and it was nil-each.
“Every team in the league has improved and it’s difficult to pick up points.
“There’s very little in the games and it’s a credit to the integrity of the league that every team goes out to try and pick up as many points as they can throughout the season.
“We are quite happy with where we are at and how we are playing but we never look any further than the next game.”
Bonagee have added Aidan Brennan, Matthew McLaughlin and Kyle Martin to their ranks in recent weeks as they get ready for a title push.
Rovers haven’t been as active in the transfer market, although an old face has returned.
“We have signed Kevin McGrath back from Oldtown.
“He trained on Tuesday night. He’s been away for a few years but it’s good to get him back.
“Kevin was the first player we had at the club that started his schoolboy football with Letterkenny Rovers and went the whole way up to senior football.
“He would have started out at maybe under 10s in a team managed by Dessie Kelly.
“Other than Kevin, we are happy with what we have had since the start of the season.
“We signed Simon McGlynn and Shane McNamee which added to our firepower.
“Shovy’ (David Shovlin) is back fit. He came back last year and played one game and got hurt and missed practically the rest of the season so it’s good to have him again.
“We have a lot of quality in our Saturday team as well so we can bring some of those players up if we need to.
“You don’t like going to clubs midway through a season and try and take players from them so that’s why we wanted to get the business done last summer.
“It’s testament to the boys that we have that we didn’t feel we needed a lot of new faces.”
Letterkenny Rovers made light work of Kerrykeel ’71 and Swilly Rovers to advance to the Letterkenny Area Shield Final of the Brian McCormick Cup.
However, the intensity will ramp up when Bonagee come to Leckview for the 1pm kick-off.
There’s no safety net for the losers with the winners advancing to the semi-finals later in the season so there’s plenty at stake.
Gorman said: Bonagee is our next game and obviously you have the added incentive that there’s a trophy at stake and the fact it’s a local derby against one of your biggest rivals.
“That all adds to the occasion but our sole focus at the minute is just preparing the game for Sunday and we won’t be looking any further ahead than that.”
