Kildrum Tigers look to end wait for Saturday Division 1 glory

Kildrum Tigers reserves have been knocking on the door of the Glencar Inn Saturday Division One in recent years, but this year they are within reach of clinching the title.

The Station Road Park men have watched on from arm's length as Oldtown Celtic won four-in-a-row in a spell of domination in the Saturday leagues, twice running them close.

Just last season, the St Johnston men finished second, six points behind, only dropping points in five games, but their two defeats were the difference between them and the unbeaten side.

And in 2023, they were within a whisker of clinching the title, level on points with their opponents on the final day, but they lost out late on in the Letterkenny Community Centre.

However, under the management of Sunday player Michael Lynch this season, they have the chance to clinch the title this Saturday in their penultimate game.

“It’s sort of a baptism of fire for me, but we have been going well,” Lynch said, who has Ronan McKinley and Dylan Doherty helping out with the team.

“Across the whole thing, it has been sort of a changing of the guard, and the younger boys have been stepping up to the plate, with us older boys getting pushed out. But we’re getting results, and we’re going well.

Kildrum are running with a panel of around 27 between the two teams, so it’s a tight-knit squad, but they have been strong from defence out, with a good blend of youth and experience.

Conceding 16 goals in as many games has been key to that, and they have had intense battles throughout the season, winning five of those games by a single goal.

It leaves them eight points clear of Letterkenny Rovers with two games to go, although the Leckview Park men have a game in hand and a superior goal difference.

“We pride ourselves defensively, and then hopefully we can get a goal and win 1-0 or something, so defensively it has been massive. The likes of Brett (McGinty), Gavin McGee in centre back have played consistently, Sean Friel would have won the league with the Sunday side, and he’s back from London, so it has been defend first and see what we can do the other way.

“Ciaran Tinney has come in, Dan Coyle, boys that haven’t played a run of games for the Saturday side before that have been massive. Aaron O’Donnell is coming of age.

“I’ve tried to refrain from playing as much this year, but sometimes we’ve been light, and if games are coming down to the wire, I might but myself up front to cause a bit of havoc!

“We always tried to be competitive across the board.”

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But the experienced heads have also been key to leading the way.

“Frank (McBrearty) is a big help, and Gavin came down from the Sunday team. Gareth, Keelan Gillen, James McNulty and then Frank has been leading it.

“It’s a big help because they can do whatever they want and know what needs to be done in games, which is massive.

“Everybody has played their part so we’re happy enough in that way.

Kildrum are still in the Voodoo Cup, and will face Keadue Rovers in the semi-final as they bid to retain the title after beating Erne Wanderers 4-0 in the decider last year, with Lynch hitting a first-half brace in that win.

But the full focus is on this Saturday, and it would be an appropriate way to take the title if they were to win it at home against an Oldtown Celtic side that have been the benchmark in the first half of this decade.

And with Letterkenny Rovers in their final game, they will want to get over the line this weekend rather than have to face another possible title decider in their last game of the season.

“We’ve won the Voodoo Cup twice over the past three years and we’ve never actually retained, so that would be the hope this year, but that’ll be parked until we get this league campaign done.

“We’ve been in and about the top of the league, and we’ve been down the final straight, but we haven’t got over the line, so it is massively important to try and bring it home. The last time we won the highest standard Saturday league was the Ulster Senior League reserves, which was in 2014 so it would be huge to bring home this year, hopefully.

“We’d take winning the league against anybody! But in a sense, it would be fitting for Oldtown to pass the mantle, hopefully it’s a sign. They’ve been incredible in the Saturday league for the past four years, and fair play to them. Results haven’t been going their way, but we played them down there, and it was a massive battle. Gareth (Colhoun) scored a screamer, and we got away from them in the second half to put it to bed, but it was no easy game.”

“Three years ago, we were in the driving seat in the league, and we slipped up, and Oldtown beat us on the last day of the season, but hopefully, we can put it to bed on Saturday.”