Kilmacrennan favourites to outgun Letterkenny Rovers and land Brian McCormick Cup

This weekend sees the curtain close on another season for the Donegal Junior League with the Brian McCormick Sports Cup final set to be decided.

Titles have been won and promotions have been celebrated while some have suffered the agony of relegation.

But the Brian McCormick Sports Cup is the final piece of silverware on show with Kilmacrennan Celtic and Letterkenny Rovers vying to be the ones etching their name on the prize.

Gerard 'Zola' McGranaghan sits in the hot seat for Kilmacrennan and he explained that one little piece of elusive history is driving his squad forward.

"One factor motivating us is that Kilmacrennan Celtic have never won the Brian McCormick Cup," he said. "That's the main thing driving us. It's disappointing the way the league ended but we'd like to top the season off with some silverware.

"We'll take nothing for granted though because any team that gets to the final deserves to be there. Rovers beat Premier Division teams on their way to the decider.

“I've only watched them against Kildrum Tigers for some of the second-half and I know they have a good squad. They've got some experienced players in there. We'll take nothing for granted, regardless of what division they're in."

The last month hasn't been easy by any means for Kilmacrennan, who finished second in the race for the Premier Division title. Injuries have hampered the squad but McGranaghan hopes to have a full strength side to call upon on the big day.

"We've had a few bodies out this last little while," he said. "It's been a tough month, I don't think I've had a full strength squad for maybe the last six games.

"We would've liked to take the league to the final game, it would have been a good final day but we didn't take our points when we could get them.

“But we are looking forward to this final and we'll be treating it as a game where we have to go out, do our own stuff and hopefully take care of business."

In the opposite dugout for Letterkenny Rovers will be Stephen McConnell, who knows the quality that his opponents possess ahead of their third cup tie in a row against a team from a higher division.

"Kilmacrennan didn't win the league so this is their chance at some silverware," he said. "They'll be going all out for it and there are not many ball playing teams in Donegal as good as them.

"We'll be up against it but we'll still be going out to win. It's one game of football. We'll be going all out to cause an upset.

"We were in Division 1, mid-table and they were second in the Premier Division. So they'll have to fancy themselves. I don't want to use the cliche, but I suppose we've done a bit of ‘giant killing’ in recent rounds.

“Against Rathmullan and again with Kildrum, we kind of upset the odds but we know that on their day, Kilmacrennan can blow anyone away."

Letterkenny Rovers finished their league season during the first weekend of April and their last competitive fixture was the cup semi-final victory over Kildrum Tigers. But the squad has been kept on their toes courtesy of a couple of friendlies here and there.

"We played Derry City's U-19 team not too long ago and we played Milford United on Sunday just gone," he explained.

"Milford have a big play-off game themselves on Sunday against Bonagee United so we knew we’d get a competitive encounter.

“It kept them and us ticking over, and we've played a game every weekend now so we haven't really missed any football, just maybe the competitive side of it”.

McConnell has previously said, on a number of occasions, that the league campaign for Rovers was a disappointing one. Promotion would have been viewed as an achievable task but certain things just didn’t quite go to plan.

“The form in the league was inconsistent but there can be no doubting their performances in the cup this season. They have been brilliant.

"We finally got a settled back four, normally we couldn't get the same boys out every week. We clicked a wee bit over Christmas but towards the end of the season, everything has fallen into place and we have the same team now most weeks.

"The end of the season has been brilliant, the mood in the camp is good, everyone is in good form and we are really looking forward to the final on Saturday."