'We're aiming to win every competition we enter' - Cockhill Celtic boss Gavin Cullen

Having won four trophies last year in what was an historic season, Cockhill Celtic and their manager Gavin Cullen are set to go again as the 2024/’25 season kicks off this weekend. 

Cockhill Celtic rounded off a perfect season last May when they overcame Buncrana Hearts after 110 minutes of football to clinch the Donegal Signs Cup, having already won the Inishowen League, the Inishowen League Cup, and the FAI Junior Cup. 

It was a season like no other for the Hoops, but for Cullen and his side, their aim is to keep moving forward and look towards the upcoming season. 

“We know that we created our own bit of history last year,” Cullen said. “It finally got to sink in what we achieved over the summer, but you know that you have to move on pretty quickly too and you have to start looking at the next season and focus on the next game.” 

The Inishowen club manager admits that coming into this season, his players are eager to get going again and are as hungry as they were when he left them at the start of the summer break. 

“The group are hungry and they’re ready to go again this season. I’m not too sure what drives these players on, I think competition for places helps and obviously, when you’re winning games and you get that winning feeling you don’t want to let it go,” he said. 

“So, I think there are a lot of factors in motivating a team every year to come back and be successful. We try and keep the standards high and stay positive, but a lot of it is really down to the players and the work they do.” 

Last season, the Inishowen champions in their first season back in the competition after playing for over a decade in the Ulster Senior League, only lost one match in the entire season which occurred in the League Cup, the very competition Cockhill will play in this weekend against Carndonagh. 

And while Cullen knows that it will be hard to replicate the extraordinary achievements from last season, he believes that his team is possibly stronger than last year and will go into every competition fully confident that they can win it.  

“Some boys have left and we’ve signed new players too, and we believe, if we have everyone fit and available, then we’ll have a stronger squad than last season, but for now it’s about getting everyone up to speed and ready for this weekend,” he said. 

It’ll be difficult to do what we did last year because we were fighting on every front, in competition for every trophy. Like, we only lost one game last season which was our first game in the League Cup, and to go the entire season with only one defeat is phenomenal. 

“To keep that level of consistency will be difficult but we’ll be aiming high again and we’ll be aiming to win every competition we enter, that is going to be a serious challenge but we’re going to give it a good go.” 

Having already played one game this season with Cockhill winning the Tom Hand Trophy, they’ve started their 2024/’25 campaign on the right foot and hope to keep it going this weekend. 

“We’re coming off the back of being the first side from Donegal to win the Tom Hand Trophy, that’s great that we created another bit of history in the county. We made hard work of that game, but like always, the boys dug deep and prevailed which was brilliant. Hopefully, we can keep it going.”