Exciting times for Letterkenny Rovers after being accepted to FAI National League

With the news of Letterkenny Rovers being confirmed as one of the teams in the new FAI National League, manager Stephen McConnell has welcomed it as an exciting time for the club.

One of three Donegal clubs accepted, along with neighbours Bonagee United, and Inishowen side Cockhill Celtic, Letterkenny Rovers will compete in the third tier, which begins next year.

Rumours of this have been circulating for a number of years, and the Leckview Park men were always keen to throw their hat in the ring once the announcement came.

“It’s been in the pipeline for a while, and there were rumours about it a year or so ago, so we got plans in place,” McConnell told DonegalLive.

“We went down to Dublin and met the FAI and showed a PowerPoint presentation on what we could do, and they were very impressed.

“There were a lot of Zooms, phone calls and emails exchanged, and our executives went down to Dublin a couple of times.

“Then they came up here and met with the club and saw the facilities, and offered us a place.

“We are kind of there (facility-wise), it’s just making sure we’re ready. We had competed in the Under-21Airtricity League for five years before, so we’ve been there before, and we understand the cost and expense of travel, so it’s all about getting things set up for that.

“We know buses to away games aren’t going to be cheap, so it’ll be about fundraising and generous sponsors around town, but that’s the way football works, and we’ll make sure we’re ready for it.”

The three Donegal teams accepted had spent a couple of decades in the Ulster Senior League, so they are no strangers to competing above Junior level, and they were all keen to return to a higher level.

“When the Ulster Senior League started to go down, there was talk from the FAI that there could be something in the pipeline, and we’d just been waiting for that to become official and try to make that happen, and thankfully, we have.

“I was working with the second team at that point, and we still have a lot of that squad now, along with the Ulster Senior League team, and it has been a good mix, and I’d say we’ve been very successful the last three years.”

The initial plans from the FAI were to have a North and South Division, with ten teams in each league.

So far, there have been just 15 teams accepted, and the FAI are seeking further applicants to make up the numbers.

The North tier would be expected, based on the teams currently accepted, to be made up by the Donegal trio, along with Connacht’s Mervue United, Salthill Devon and Mayo FC and a couple of Dublin clubs.

Travel will be costly, but McConnell is thankful for a couple of local games to help that.

“It’s a massive help, having a big derby five minutes over the road and then Cockhill 30 minutes away, to have that as two away games, it’s not the worst in the world.

“It’s massive for Donegal, the player product up here is probably as strong as it’s ever been, and when you look at all three of our squads, they’re all basically local or Donegal-based players the whole way through.

“So it gives some boys chances that they might never have got.”

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There will be no promotion in the first season, which will also be a short season beginning in the autumn and finishing before the new year.

The leagues then align with the two League of Ireland divisions in calendar year football.

“It’ll be a way to get everyone to find their feet, then we’ll run along with the League of Ireland.

“Everyone is kind of buzzing about it, and we’re looking to get going. But we have a job to concentrate on first and foremost in our own season, and we’ll be ready for that after the season.

“The players are excited too, the Donegal Junior League has never been stronger than it currently is and every team are able to challenge, but to be playing top opposition in the country every week will be great.

“We’ll be heading down the country to play the best of the best all the time, and that’ll increase our levels and performances, and it should be good for the country as a whole.

“Over the years, we’ve played some cracking teams in the FAI Junior Cup with the likes of North End United, Peake Villa, Clonmel Celtic, and Mervue United, who we’ve played the last two years, and they’ll be in the league also, so it’s something to look forward to.”