Donegal Town too strong for Letterbarrow Celtic in local derby

The league table doesn’t lie and Donegal Town were the superior side in the local  derby meeting at Tymeen against Letterbarrow on Sunday  in the TDA Repairs Division 1.

Letterbarrow Celtic 0   Donegal Town 2

The Donegal Town side took over at the top of the table with this result and they were comfortable after taking a two goal lead to the break. Letterbarrow had just 12 players on the day while Donegal Town had a full squad with them.

The early exchanges were pretty even in the driving rain, which made conditions difficult for both sides.

David Graham brought a good save from John Leonard on 15 minutes and it took an intervention from Michael Coughlan to deny Ronan McHugh four minutes later, the left back getting back to take the ball off the line.

Letterbarrow Celtic pictured before the game

Eoin McHugh and Gerard McBrearty had half chances for the home team and Daniel Meehan hit a free kick well over.

The deadlock was broken on 33 minutes when Ronan McHugh was fouled and he took the free quickly to release Joe Campbell who fired across Leonard and into the far corner.

The second goal will disappoint the Letterbarrow rearguard as they allowed a tame enough free kick from Eoin Slevin to go all the way to the net.

In their best moment in the match, Letterbarrow almost pulled a goal back four minutes into the second half. A free kick from fully 40m was well struck by Daniel Meehan, but he saw his effort go over off the crossbar with Town ‘keeper Matthew Gallagher (the latest in a long line of ‘keepers for the Hospital Field side) struggling to get across.

Eoin Slevin was called upon to tidy up after a good Letterbarrow move before Donegal Town had the ball in the net again on 60 minutes, but it was ruled out for offside. A free kick by Joe Campbell hit the target and John Leonard parried it, but David Graham was ruled offside.

In the final quarter Donegal Town had a couple of chances with Glen Harron clipping the crossbar and Graham Harron had one that went wide and another saved.

Kevin McBrearty was strong at the centre of the Letterbarrow defence while Caolan Loughney tried hard in the middle and Daniel Meehan will be vital to them getting scores going forward if they are to get away from the bottom of the table.

Ronan McHugh was really lively for the winners with John Doherty, Tom Cutz and Joe Campbell also prominent.

Letterbarrow Celtic: John Leonard, Daniel Gallagher, Michael Coughlan, John Kenny, Kevin McBrearty, Cathal Lowther (Christian Ward 64), Barry Burke, Caolan Loughney, Daniel Meehan, Gerard McBrearty, Eoin McHugh.

Donegal Town: Matthew Gallagher, Tom Cutz  (Toby Owoeye), Oisin Gorrell (Ian Campbell (22), Eoin Slevin, John Doherty, Stephen Graham, Ben Sweeney, Glen Harron, Ronan McHugh (Killian Faulkner 77), David Graham (Declan Duignan 72), Joe Campbell (Graham Harron 70).

Referee: Damien McFadden