After Junior A success, Letterkenny Gaels will continue to look up

Letterkenny Gaels know all about the false dawns in recent years, so that made it all the sweeter.

On Sunday, over the road at O’Donnell Park, they captured the elusive Dr McCloskey Cup - given to the Junior A Champions - for the first time last with victory over Carndonagh.

It was almost a generation in the making for the club that was formed in 1996 and there were quiet tears shed among club supporters at the final whistle.

Losing out to Buncrana in 2019 and then against Downings last season, it was third time lucky for the Gaels as the scoreboard read 0-12 to 0-10 by the end.

“These boys craved this day from their underage years,” said Paul Melaugh, joint-manager with Dougie Corbett.

It was a second coming for the Melaugh/ Corbett combination. They also managed the team in the early part of the millennium for a season before taking over from Sean McBrearty at the end of last year. Up to this season most of the Lifford native and former Naomh Padraig player’s work had been at underage with the Letterkenny club.

“I became involved with the club around 2002 when my son Brian started to play U-10 and I have worked with a good few of the lads that were on this year’s team,” Melaugh said. “I worked with Brian and Niall Diver, Ronan Frain, Diarmuid O’Cathail, Ryan Graham, Shay Doherty and Liam McAlary. When they started out they played in Division 2 and 3 championships but they always wanted to play in Division 1 competitions.

“They achieved that at U16 and minor and while they did not enjoy any success in terms of titles or championships they were running teams like Buncrana, MacCumhaills and Killybegs close.

Gaels won promotion at the end of last term to Division 2 in the All-County Football League for the first time and they acquitted themselves well and retained status. They will play in Division 2 again next season and they have now qualified to play intermediate championship football.

“The next target now is to win the intermediate championship and go up to senior championship,” Melaugh added. “They are mature enough to know that is not going to happen overnight and it is going to take a big effort and the squad has to be strengthened before that happens. It may take four or five years. But here’s hoping. One of the players said to me on Monday, ‘imagine playing St Eunan’s in the senior championship?’”