Champions Glenea United remember greats John O’Brien and John Harley

Glenea United took time to visit the gravesides of the late John O’Brien and John Harley after lifting the Temple Domestic Appliances Division One trophy on Sunday.

Darren McGeever and Shaun Curran scored the goals in a 2-1 win over Castlefin Celtic at McGettigan Park to get the party started. However, there was a moment of poignancy afterwards.

Late of Wee Brae, Falcarragh, John O'Brien passed away back in January of 2021 at Donegal Hospice, aged just 56. A former Donegal League-winning captain with Glenea, he is fondly remembered as one of the club’s greatest ever players, with a career that spanned 25 years.

John Harley was one of four young men who lost their lives in a horrific road traffic accident in west Donegal in January 2019. He, along with friends Micheál Roarty, Daniel Scott and Shaun Harkin, tragically passed away at Gleannhulaigh.

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The Glenea squad and management took the league trophy from Glasserchoo to John’s grave at St Finian’s Church, Falcarragh.
Manager Sean Coll said the club is back where it belongs after two seasons in the First Division.
“We are delighted to be back up,” he said. “It has been a long season. It has been a tough season. There are a lot of good clubs, a lot of proud clubs in Division One. We are looking forward to returning to the premier division and playing against all the top teams in the county next season.”

Glenea, since returning to the Donegal League from the Ulster Senior League, have played most of their football in the Brian McCormick Sports Premier Division, winning the title in 2012, adding to their pre-Ulster Senior League three in a row between 2001/02 and 2003/04.

“When I started playing with the club in 2005, we were struggling in the Ulster Senior League,” Coll adds. “So the following season we returned to the Donegal League and played in the Premier Division. That was in 2006, and we remained in the league until 2019 when we dropped down to the First Division.

“We went back up the following year, 2020, during Covid. And we were relegated again two seasons ago. Immigration has hit us hard in recent years. But it is good to see a nice crop of young fellows coming back and being proud to play again for the club.

“The players are looking forward to playing against a number of the best teams in the country, never mind Donegal. The likes of Letterkenny Rovers, Fanad United and Bonagee United are all quality teams. They are the powerhouses.

“Overall, there are no easy games in the league. You go to Keadue, you go to Kilmacrennan, you won’t find anything easy against the likes of those clubs. But that is the challenge and you should always want to be playing against the best teams. “
Due to the planned resurfacing of McGettigan Park’s playing pitch and other developments, Glenea will play their home games at the PCC grounds in Falcarragh.

“It has been a long, hard and tough season in a very competitive league with the title and promotion races going down to the last day,” Coll added. “ It has been a slog of a season, and it has been tight at the top and there were no dead rubber games.”
Glenea went into Sunday’s last game of the season with no room for error. They were just a point ahead of second-placed Donegal Town, who in turn were one point ahead of Lagan Harps.

“It was a cup final in a way,” Coll says. “It was a game we had to win because if we lost or drew, we were more than likely going into the dreaded playoff for promotion. Thankfully, we weathered the storm and saw it out, but we were not sure until the final whistle.”

Like his manager, captain McGeever is looking forward to mixing it next season in the Premier Division after being pushed by Castlefin, who trailed 2-0 at the break but made a real go of it in the second half and pulled a goal back through Daithí Gordon.

“It is great to win promotion, but it is also nice when you are promoted to go up as champions,” McGeever said on Sunday.
“We will look forward to mixing with the big boys again. Next September will mark my 20th season playing senior football with Glenea, and 16 of those years were in the Premier Division. We were relegated two years ago, and now we are heading back up again. That is where we want to be playing all the best teams.

“We have a young panel with a couple of old heads. To be honest, we did not expect this to happen at the start of the year. But we kept grinding out results. We dug it out at the end. In fairness, we probably deserved it because we have been very good over the season.”

McGeever scored the first goal 13 minutes into the game as he got a powerful header to a corner from his brother Cathal and felt it was imperative to strike an early settler.

“It is always important to get the first goal on days like this,” he said. “Sometimes you have to be patient, and today was one of those games. “The goal helped to settle us because there were a lot of nerves given what was at stake. Castlefin, they kept us honest and really put it up to us at the start of the second half.

“Given the strength of the breeze, playing with it, we felt we needed a two or three-goal lead at half-time. So the second goal was an important score because we felt a two-goal cushion at half-time was the least we needed. And given the way the second half panned out, it proved to be the case. Castlefin, as we expected, came out at the start of the second half and scored the goal and put us under pressure.

“Our young defence has really matured in the course of the season. They are all under the age of 21, and they soaked up everything Castlefin threw at them at the start of the second half. Last year, we probably would have lost that game, but thankfully, we weathered the storm and finished the game strong.”