St Catherine’s owe Bonagee United one says Shaun Kelly

St Catherine’s and Bonagee United are separated by one point in mid-table in the Brian McCormick Sports Premier League and whoever wins in Sunday’s game at Emerald Park will take a huge step towards maintaining their top flight status.

St Catherine’s, under Shaun Kelly and Christopher Murrin, were promoted last year and are anxious to consolidate their position.

Kelly returned to the club in the last few years after a professional career that took him from Hearts in Scotland back to Finn Harps via Dundalk, Galway United, Derry City and Limerick FC.

The experienced defender is now back on the road again as a representative of Swan Net-Gundry, Killybegs.

“I’m doing the sports nets for them at the moment. I’m all over the country, pretty much everywhere but Donegal,” said Kelly.
His return home has corresponded with an upturn in the fortunes for St Catherine’s. I suppose we have a very young side. Last year, coming up, we were disappointed to lose out on the league title. The second last game against Fanad, it was hammer and tongs the whole way through it. If we beat them we win the league, if they beat us they win the league.

“A draw did them. We pushed for it and they ended up getting the goal and winning it. We had to go for it. They have actually strengthened a lot this year, they have taken two or three from Kerrykeel, whereas we have lost two or three players through work commitments and travelling to Australia.

“It’s a difficult year, but we are holding our own at the minute. We are only half way through the season, so there is a long way to go.

The Fishermen have an Ulster Cup semi-final at the end of the month and Kelly is glad that he has help in the management role because of his work commitments this year.

“I’m just trying to help as much as I can. Daniel Breslin and Christopher Murrin have more so taken over the management side of things this year. And to be fair to them, they are actually doing a lot more than me because I’m away working a lot of the time.

“Only for them this year, they are doing a lot of the training sessions. Myself and Christopher were 50-50 last year but Daniel has come in,” said Kelly, who added that Christopher could be away as well at times so Breslin has had a big input.

“We are after losing one of our better players, Josh Maxwell, to Finn Harps. He is going to be a big miss.
“He was a huge player, we took him in last year for his first year of senior football and he went very well,” said Kelly, who said that Stephen McNutt and Dave Rogers have taken him to Harps. “Hopefully, he can kick on from that.”

Kelly agreed that the loss of Maxwell shows that the club is making progress in developing players. “That’s what we want. Colin Mooney was with us for half the year last year as well and he ended up signing for Sligo Rovers under Declan Boyle.
“It was unfortunate for us, but great for them. We want to see more of that as we go along,” said Kelly.

Other young players who are impressing include Kyle McGeoghan, son of former Finn Harps star Paul McGeoghan, who also played for Fanad and Dunkineely Celtic. “He actually signed for Sligo Rovers last year but at the time it didn’t work out for him due to work commitments and travel. He came back to us and is performing well.

“Alex McBrearty got injured this year, he dislocated his knee, so he is out for a while. He was brilliant for us. Then you have the likes of Ryan Cunningham, who was top scorer in the league last year and he is still pretty young. Odhran McGuinness came back from Sligo Rovers to us as well,” said Kelly, who said that the young fellas have been great, despite playing the whole year round as most of them play GAA as well.

Kelly knows about the crossover as he was part of the Killybegs GAA minor team that reached the Ulster club final in 2005.
“I was actually playing for Hearts at the time. They flew me back. I wasn’t actually meant to be playing but I came on in the second half. We kept it quiet at the time but thankfully I didn’t get injured.”

On Sunday, St Catherine’s have an important assignment against Bonagee and there will be no lack of motivation. “We have played them twice recently and they beat us. We played them in the semi-final of the Sportsman Cup last year and also in the first game of the league this year, so we know ourselves it will be a tough game.

“They have got one over on us so we owe them on. It is also going to be a huge game in terms of we are only a point ahead of them in the league. That’s what we are looking at. It’s not ideal the way things are working out in the league at the moment. Some teams have more games played than others. We have to make sure that we get the three points."