First four league games has been a great learning experience for St Catherine’s - Kelly

St Catherine’s lost out to high flying Letterkenny Rovers on Sunday  last in their fourth league game in the Brian McCormick Sports Premier Division but for manager Shaun Kelly, he feels there has been nothing but positives for his young side.

They have just one point from their four games, but Kelly feels his side are not being overwhelmed despite the quality of the opposition.

“It’s a battle for us but it is something we are thriving on. You  want to be playing Letterkenny Rovers, they are an unbelievable side. Joel Bradley Walsh, I have to pick him out. He’s an incredible player and he’s been fantastic in the last two games.

“I don’t think I’ve seen a better Junior player since I’ve come back in the last four years. He is a step above,” said Kelly.

“For us, the biggest thing is to put on a performance. And you know what, I think we were unlucky. We missed a lot of chances. On another day we could have had five or six goals but that’s not the way it works, unfortunately, at this level.”

On Sunday the Emerald Park residents went down 3-1 but Kelly was reflecting on the positives, one of which was the number of chances they created.

“We’re a very young team. We’ve Alex Cunnea in there and he’s only turned 17 and come back to us and he’s been one of our best players. Young Liam McLaughlin coming on and he’s only 16, he’s been brilliant.

“I think our oldest player is Conor Doherty, who is 28. Everybody below that is 24 and under.  We have an unbelievable young side there.

“It’s a learning experience for our boys to be playing against the likes of Keith Cowan, Mark Anthony McGinley, who have played regularly in the League of Ireland for Finn Harps.

“It’s going to be tough. We have had two losses in the FAI Cup and League against them but we’re going to take a lot of positives.

“Unfortunately you get no points and you get no pats on the back for it. To be fair our first four league games were Fanad United (who won the league), Kildrum (who have come second), Bonagee and Letterkenny. At the end of the day we have had the toughest start. The four that we have played are probably the four best.

“We have had Greencastle in two cup games as well. We are taking a lot of positives out of it.

“A point against Bonagee and three losses, a lot of teams would say that’s a bad start, but we have to look at the positives as we were playing against some of the best players in the country, never mind the county.

“Letterkenny Rovers are a brilliant team. We are going to build on this. We are going to start our league from next week. We play Gweedore, which is a huge game for us. This week we will build a game plan and go at it,” said Kelly, who feels that the standard of the Premier League has risen given that the cream of the crop are playing there with no Ulster Senior League.

“It is like the Ulster Senior League now, the Donegal Premier League. But look, that’s where we want to be. You see the crowds there today. The crowd came up last week. I don’t think St Catherine’s have had crowds like that for the last two games in years.

“We know we are doing something right in that we are well capable of challenging these teams. Maybe we are a bit off but we know ourselves we played well. We’re just not there yet.

“Maybe in the next two to three years if we can keep this team together, we have a real chance of progressing.”

Reflecting on Sunday’s game, he agreed that Letterkenny Rovers had a physicality that they weren't able to match, especially in set pieces.

“Look, when you have Cowan, McCarry, McMonagle and Banda in the box against you. You know yourself that it is going to be a big ask to keep them out. Look, we defended well for the whole game. It was two scrappy goals, which I wasn’t happy about.

“When you’re playing against the best teams you want to make them work for it; we didn’t make them work for those goals. We’ll learn from them things.”
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The St Catherine's bench on Sunday in their game against Letterkenny Rovers Pic: Thomas Gallagher

What really nagged Kelly was the fact that his side had the best opening chance with Josh Maxwell denied on a one-on-one with Mark Anthony McGinley and the ball went upfield for Letterkenny to win a corner and go ahead.

“I can’t fault our team. They are coming on in leaps and bounds. I’m in there four seasons now and the boys are getting stronger. They are getting better in every season.

“It’s unfortunate that we lost. We will take the positives and we’ll move on to Gweedore next week,” said Kelly.