Letterkenny Rovers: A season that will be remembered for a long time

“When we played Dunboyne away at Tallaght IT on the astroturf,” David Shovlin said. “We really were battering them in the second half and we probably could’ve pushed on to win it on the day.

“Eamonn told us though, not to worry and it would be as well off taking them back up the road and it would guarantee you another game. We did that and put them out on penalties and it was a great result.”

Belief started to bellow like a wind-filled sail. McConigley commonly looked into the whites of his players’ eyes as he spoke about mental toughness.

When Midleton FC arrived at the Aura Centre in January, Rovers produced a stunning first half to go in 2-0 up at half-time. Paul McVeigh’s screamer and a tap-in from captain Darren McElwaine. They won 2-1 having survived a second half onslaught.

“We were excellent in the first half,” skipper McElwaine said. “It could’ve been more. But in the second half they launched everything. It was a matter of use standing up well.”

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Rovers were standing up well. Killester United were highly rated having defeated Bonagee United 4-0 earlier in the competition.

But again with Forker and Christy Connaghan providing the impetus in the engine-room, a two-goal lead was established. Conaghan and McElwaine scored before Owen Mooney pulled one back for the Leinster Senior League outfit.

“We went out very mentally prepared and that stuck to us,” McConigley said afterwards.

After Ringmahon Park passed an early morning pitch inspection, again the attitude was right and so too was the start. Stevie Okakpu-Emeka shot his team into the lead and they’d remain in front till the dying embers. However, Ray Kenny’s 94th minute shot deflected and wrong-footed Kelly for a 1-1 draw.

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Rovers’ players could hear cheers ringing in their ears as the full-time whistle tooted. They had had nine toes in the Aviva Stadium but their place in the Intermediate Cup final was stalled just as they were wiping their feet on the mat.

McConigley turned what some might’ve considered a negative into a positive. He stressed to his players that they had a home fixture – in the replay – against a team that they’d already showed themselves to be more than a match for. The prize at stake was a place in the FAI Intermediate Cup final.

“We didn’t start great that day,” Okakpu-Emeka said of the replay. “We didn’t break as quick, but it was a big game for the club and for the players. The nerves kicked in, but we stayed together. We didn’t break. We stayed strong and got the job done.”

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To get the job done, Rovers had to stand firm. Again. The contest was past its three-quarter mark and still scoreless and Shovlin, who was only coming back from a shoulder injury, was summoned from the substitutes’ bench by McConigley.

Within three minutes, the substitute had centred for Terence Shiels, who chested the ball into McVeigh’s path for the opening goal to the delight of Leckview. Then, in the last minute, McElwaine fed Shovlin, who dinked home the clincher in the 2-0 win.

“I still try and picture what happened, Shovlin said. “I remember just taking the top off and running around like a mad man – but it was fantastic. There were great scenes as it sealed the win.”

Shovlin, shoulder still strapped, hardly had time to get his shirt back on before haring to Dublin airport to catch a flight to Malta, for a pre-arranged holiday. Closer to home, the celebrations in the Cathedral Town ran into the small hours.

The FAI Cup – the senior version – was almost a side-show at this stage but with the pressures of the Intermediate competition now lifted, Shiels fired home a free-kick to defeat Portmarnock FC in another Leckview replay.

Again, the initial 1-1 draw strengthened character against the Dubliners, who themselves had gone to an FAI Intermediate Cup semi-final replay, eventually succumbing to Crumlin.

The build-up to the Intermediate Cup final turned Letterkenny into a black and white town. Hysteria was in overdrive. The well-wishers were huge and the progress of the team had brought out a level of support never before seen.

However, the occasion and their slick opponents, Crumlin, were too much. Rovers started badly – something that hadn’t been a facet of their season –  at the Aviva Stadium and from there things got worse. In the end, it was 5-0.

The side managed by Martin Loughren had won the competition last year courtesy of a 4-0 win over Tolka Rovers and were even more commanding against Rovers.

A hat-trick from Gregory Moorhouse would grab the headlines in an excellent overall team performance. Two goals in the first 18 minutes from Moorhouse set the tone for the victory for the Leinster Senior League side.

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That put Crumlin in complete control and Alan McGreal added a third after the break before substitute Dean Hurley added a fourth. Moorhouse’s third – a minute from time – with an impish back-heel showed the gulf in class.

“Crumlin were up for it and we weren’t,” McConigley said. “We came into the stadium and we were overawed. There is no place to hide in a place in the Aviva. We just weren’t good enough on the day.”

Whether Rovers had played at their potential, it’s still unlikely they’d have made much of an indent into Crumlin. But the disappointing thing was the fact that on the biggest stage of all, the performance wasn’t anywhere near Rovers’ capabilities.

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And that hurt more than anything.

“You don’t want to not perform in the final on the biggest stage,” McElwaine said. “We were very exposed. Even right up the last minute they were the better side so good luck to them. They’d a lot of power and pace.

“If the worst day of my life is when we get beat 5-0 at the Aviva Stadium, I’ll live with that. It’d be good to see teams in the Ulster Senior League think they can do the same. We’re not a bad team.

“We got a lot of support from the businesses in Letterkenny and we didn’t come down to let people down. It’s not easy getting beat like that but we’ll take our oil and we’ll move on.”

After a sobering experience there was still a potential iceberg on the horizon. Athlone Town, away, in the FAI Cup.

The midlanders were second from bottom in Division 1 of the SSE Airtricity League but Rovers – who would’ve been missing the experience of Shane Bradley and Jonathan Minnock in their defence – would’ve travelled with brittle confidence to a stage in the competition they’d never made before.

When you’re seemingly stuck in a corner though, all you can do is come out fighting. Tristian Ferris came in at centre-back and there were only sporadic chances at either end.

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The best chance of the contest came 17 minutes from time when the lively Marco Chindea got away and he rounded Kelly and shot goalwards. However, Shovlin made a heroic clearance having just arrived on the scene in the nick of time. A 0-0 draw coupled with Finn Harps’ 1-0 home loss in the same competition against Crumlin. Rovers were flying the flag for Donegal.

Another replay. But Leckview replays had been something that were enjoyed and not endured all season long.

With the old ground having perhaps never looked better, Rovers took the game to their opponents.

The best chance of the first half came to centre-back Boyle, who might’ve had more time than he thought as he saw Ryan Coulter save following a knockdown from McElwaine.

Kelly in goal made a fine save from O’Sullivan in the opening chapters of the second half. And in the 92nd minute, the former Derry City netminder made an excellent double-save.

That came moments after Okakpu-Emeka had rattled the Athlone crossbar from a header after Forker’s corner.

Extra-time. Both teams felt their way into it in the first period but again Rovers were denied by Coulter, when Kevin McGrath shot from an angle.

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Everyone in the sunshine was doing a mental calculation of who’d be taking the penalties. But in the 118th minute the O’Sullivan changed the entire atmosphere. The shrieks of Athone’s celebrations led by Alan Mathews – a man who has won the competition twice as manager – punctuated the silence.

That silence only came to an end when Michael Connolly, the referee, blew for time. In their 12th national cup contest of the season, Rovers had lost for just the second time.

 “It was fantastic to be involved in a game like that,” McConigley said afterwards. I told them they did Donegal football proud. They’ve done that this season.”

“Everyone is devastated in there,” said Forker.”We gave a really good account of ourselves. We matched them.