Keadue Rovers boss Pat Ward hoping for rub of green away to Kildrum Tigers

Keadue Rovers manager Pat Ward admits that last weekend’s loss away to Cappry Rovers was a frustrating setback for his side. 

Keadue remain third in the Premier Division standings but with both leaders Fanad United and second placed Kilmacrennan Celtic winning on the same day, the Rosses men have lost further ground on the top two.  

Still, boss Ward explains that his players were perhaps unlucky last time out at Cappry Park and that if lessons are learned, then they can instantly get back on track this Sunday.

“To be honest, I came away from Cappry the last day wondering how we didn’t take something from the game? To be fair to the boys, they didn’t do a whole lot wrong. We actually played well.

“And Cappry have something that no one else in the league has - they’ve big Paddy (McNulty)! Fair play to him to be at that kinda level, still. And Cappry has a very good side there. 

“Looking back, we felt we’d a very good goal disallowed early on. We believe we should have had a penalty and, in the second-half, we’d a perfectly good goal that crossed the line disallowed. 

“But those are the breaks, sometimes they go for you and sometimes they go against you. That’s football”.  

Station Road Park has - over the years - traditionally been one of the most difficult places to go to in the Donegal League. Tigers are currently joint bottom of the pile with Castlefin Celtic, but ahead of Sunday’s task, Ward insists his side are guaranteed absolutely nothing. 

“I don’t ever remember the Donegal League being as competitive as it currently is. The standard in the last few seasons has really gone to another level. I looked across the fixtures prior to last Sunday and there wasn’t a single game where you could call with any real certainty. 

“This weekend will be no different, we’re in for a really difficult assignment. Like I said, last Sunday we didn’t do that much wrong. We just need a little bit of luck. In this league, that’s often the deciding factor. 

“Kildrum are very similar in style to ourselves. They like to knock the ball about and bring width to their play when they can. Matty Crossan and ‘Farmer’ (William Lynch) there are the back, that’s two players with great experience at this grade.

“As a player and a manager, I don’t remember winning too many games up there. It’s always been a tough place to go”.

Keadue might well have dropped further behind at the business end of things in the table, four off Kilmacrennan now and eight off pace-setters Fanad. But Ward says the aim for Rovers is to make a solid improvement on how they fared last term in the top tier. 

“We had our difficulties last season. We just about finished above relegation. We had to go to Drumkeen needing a win, in our last game of the season, to avoid the drop. So we have to look at the bigger picture. 

“We are content with how things have gone so far but it could be even better. We have been conceding silly goals. If we can nip those wee mistakes in the bud, then we’ll be an even harder side to beat”.