Gweedore Celtic look to put their best foot forward and stay in the Premier Division

It may have been a difficult season for Gweedore Celtic in the Premier Division this year, but their manager Paul ‘Rua’ McBride is confident and determined to stay in the top flight for another season, but to do so, they first have to overcome a strong Donegal Town side in a promotion/relegation play-off this Sunday in Ballyare. 

The Gweedore club secured automatic promotion from the First Division last year for the first time since 2015, alongside Swilly Rovers and Milford United, but it's not been an easy road back in the top flight of Donegal junior football, with Paul ‘Rua’ McBride’s side winning only five games out of their 18 league matches. 

Having overcome Milford two weeks ago, with the loser being automatically banished to the second tier of Donegal football, Gweedore Celtic only has one final barrier to climb to stay in the Brian McCormick Premier Division for another year. 

But with Donegal Town flying high at the moment, the Gaeltacht club knows that their clash on Sunday at 1pm with Paul McHugh’s side is going to be no walk in the park. 

“We’re disappointed to be where we are, but look, the league table doesn’t lie,” McBride said. “But saying that, if you gave me this situation a month ago, I definitely would’ve taken it because we were really up against it. 

“It was all to play for between us and Milford . . . that was a do-or-die situation and in the end, Milford went down, and we ended up in a play-off, so it’s all to play for now on the last day against Donegal Town in Ballyare and we’ll be doing everything in our power to stay up.” 

McBride, who is in his second season in charge of Gweedore Celtic, knows Donegal Town will pose a serious threat, stating that they may be in a lower division, but their run of form shows that his side can’t take anything for granted. 

“I’ve been following the progression of Donegal Town, they’ve been really impressive all year, so we know what we’re up against. We played them twice last year and we each got a victory.  

“They’re going to be hot favourites going into this match and rightly so considering they’ve been winning games all season, but we hope our best will be enough.” 

In analysing his team’s season, the Gweedore Celtic boss places the poor run of form on a lack of experience alongside very unfortunate luck, having a lot of players absent early in the season through other sports. 

“Look, we all know it’s been difficult this season for us. We played 11 matches in the first 12 weeks of the season, so it was game on game, and that’s during a time when we had lads committed to GAA,” McBride said.  

“Now the boys that we had and were available, in fairness to them, they put in big shifts and always gave their all. We were probably completely outplayed in a few of those matches, and then in other games we were actually competitive, it was just a mistake here or there that let us down and cost us points. 

“But as the season went on we grew in numbers from maybe 11 players to about 16 which was great and created more competition at training and upped the ante in matches too. But if I was to put it down to anything, it’s probably the lack of experience and luck that has affected us most this season.” 

But despite all the hardship, Gweedore Celtic’s manager is determined to build on this season and come back stronger if they stay in the Premier Division, which he is confident they will. 

“We’ve been in the First Division for years, and when you finally get to the Premier Division you realise it’s a massive step up, but we’re determined to grow as a squad and stay in this division, but we have to get past a strong Donegal Town team first,” he claimed.  

“We will put our best foot forward on Sunday in Ballyare, we’re confident that we can get a result . . . I just hope now that we can pull something off.”