Lee McMonagle: 'I was lucky to be in the right place when the chances came'

Lee McMonagle believes Letterkenny Rovers will bounce back into pre-season in just a few short weeks.

McMonagle scored a hat-trick - including a last-minute winner - to settle Sunday’s Brian McCormick Sports Cup final, in which his side won 4-3 against a Keadue Rovers team that gave as much as they got at Diamond Park in Ballyare.

It meant a double for the Leckview Park team, who won the TDA First Division and will compete in the Premier Division next term. 

“That was a massive win,” McMonagle said afterwards. “We’ve an extremely young team, with a few older heads. We’ve beaten two Premier Division teams to win this cup and we feel we’ll be competitive next year when promoted. If you lose the cup final - no matter what has happened in the league before – all summer you’ll remember that cup final defeat. I’ve been on the wrong side of these sort of things. It’s not too often I’ve managed to win at Ballyare.

“Now, there’s lads who will look forward to pre-season. Letterkenny is a class club and you could see that today with the support and all the children cheering us on.”

A week beforehand, McMonagle hit a winner in the depths of extra-time to seal a 1-0 victory in the semi-final against Kildrum Tigers. All in all, Letterkenny were beaten once in the county this season - a 2-1 reversal in the wake of winning the league title at Gweedore United in March.

McMonagle, formerly of Drumkeen, Fanad, Drumoghill and Bonagee, said the experience of the campaign stood to his team, despite the best efforts of Keadue, who can certainly count themselves as unfortunate in the end. It came down to a cross from Aidy Delap, who had levelled at 3-3 with 87 minutes played, to set up McMonagle - as he had for the opening goal - for the winner in the last minute, stretching to head home.

“Keadue were brilliant to get ahead,” he added of Pat Ward’s side coming from 2-1 to lead 3-2 after losing Matthew Smith to a second yellow card. “I’ve 100 per cent time for them. They’ve a never-say-die attitude and they never give up. It doesn’t matter what’s happening, they’ll always come for you.

"We’ve only lost once in 90 minutes in Donegal this season. It’s the confidence from that. You look around you and even if you are one down, you feel there’s always going to be another chance. For me, it’s only about being in the right place and I was lucky to be in the right place when the chances came. After the equaliser, we just thought we needed to keep going. They had chances. We had chances. I know how Aidy plays. There’s a gel there and he, Gareth Doherty and Nathan Plumb know I’ll never be too far away from the penalty spot or the six-yard box!”