Maxi Curran's ATU Donegal get HE Senior Football League season underway tonight

In just two seasons competing in the Sigerson Cup, Letterkenny Institute of Technology have already made a footprint with a semi-final appearance in 2020 followed by a place in the last eight this year.

Tonight, ATU Donegal as they are now known, get their HE Senior Football League Division 1 campaign underway at Queen’s University Belfast. UUJ and St Mary’s make up the northern section. 

Players like Caolan Ward, Oisin Lagan, Daithi Roberts, and Peadar Mogan are now gone, with goalkeeper Emmet Maguire absent with an ACL, although manager Maxi Curran still has plenty of talent to pick from.

Carndonagh’s Conor O’Donnell, Rory O’Donnell of Milford, Termon clubman Ryan McFadden and Jason McGee from Cloughaneely are still students at the Letterkenny campus. Kieran Tobin and Eoin Dowling were part of the St Eunan’s panel for Saturday’s Donegal SFC final.

Carlos O’Reilly, Cian Rooney, Conal McDermott and Ferdia Doherty are among those who have been promoted from Luke Barrett’s Freshers side, with Paul O’Hare now in ATU Donegal having played with IT Sligo last year.

Liam Gaughan was man of the match in the Sligo SFC final on Sunday, scoring five points as his Tourlestrane side made it seven-in-a-row with a 0-15 to 0-13 extra-time win over St Mary’s from Sligo. 

“Last year we had no league whatsoever because of Covid,” Curran told DonegalLive. “We have a good panel put together now and it’s a brilliant standard of football.”

Michael Murphy, who is head of sport at ATU, guided LyIT to the Trench Cup in Mallow, Co Cork, in 2019 following a dramatic final against Dalk IT. LyIT were three points down with just 40 seconds to play and popped over five in succession to win out 0-15 to 2-7.

In 2020, a first season involved, Murphy’s side reached the Sigerson Cup semi-final in their debut season in the competition, following a 1-14 to 1-8 win in their quarter-final tie against IT Sligo, with Michael Langan bagging 1-2. They were eventually defeated by IT Carlow, with Caoimhin Marley grabbing what looked to be a goal that would take the tie in Inniskeen to extra-time, only  Adam Steed to goal for a 2-9 to 1-9 win for Carlow.

Following the pandemic in 2020, the competition was only fully restored in 2022, with Curran in charge. A late salvo of 1-3 on opening night sealed a fantastic 1-13 to 1-11 victory over IT Carlow, with Keelan McGroddy set the comeback rolling when he finished off a flowing move by firing a goal in the 58th-minute. Liam Gaughan from Sligo and Jason McGee then kicked frees either side of a Rory O’Donnell point.

Curran’s side lost out 2-23 to 3-15 against University of Limerick in the Connacht GAA Centre in Bekan, with David Clifford kicking 2-7 for the Munster side and Joel Bradley Walsh hitting 3-2 for LyIT. Then, a quarter-final place was sealed with a 0-7 to 0-6 win over UCD, which preceded a 2-8 to 1-8 quarter-final loss against eventual winner NUI Galway, who side included Galway’s All-Ireland skipper Sean Kelly, at Dangan.

ATU Donegal panel: Johnny Toye, Paul O’Hare, Conal McDermott, Ferdia Doherty, Conor Cannon, Jack Gallagher, Joel Bradley Walsh, Eoghan DeBurca, Aaron Gilhooley, Dylan Dorrian, Rory O’Donnell, Keelan McGroddy, Beanon Corrigan, Shane Black, Jack McSharry, Kieran Tobin, Eoin Dowling, Fionnan Coyle, Jason McGee, Cian Rooney,  Bobby McGettigan, Blake McGarvey, Darragh McMenamin, Ryan McFadden, Jason McGee, Kealan Dunleavy, Carlos O’Reilly, Mark McAteer, Liam Maughan, Shane Toolin.