Stephen McConnell following familiar footsteps in Letterkenny Rovers dugout

It’s always been football.

From ever he can remember, Stephen McConnell has been surrounded by football.

As a young boy, he remembers traipsing every week to Swilly Rovers, where his father, Danny, was managing at the time.

There was the glory of the Ulster Senior League win in the 1999-00 season and the subsequent switch to Letterkenny Rovers, including the 2004-05 USL triumph.

By then, McConnell the younger was a squad member of the Leckview Park outfit.

This Sunday, silverware is on the line when Stephen McConnell takes Letterkenny Rovers’ Donegal League side to battle against Bonagee United in the Area Shield final of the Brian McCormick Sports Cup.

“I was always in and around the changing rooms, watching and listening to Dad,” Stephen, in his first season as manager says.

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“I remember going to the Swilly Rovers games when I was 13 and I’d be giving wee points on the game. The time Swilly won the USL was a brilliant day out - the whole town was out at the game.

“I was always there and then later when Dad managed the Donegal Schoolboys Under-16 team in 2008, he took me in as his number two. That was my first real taste of it and I did a couple of the coaching courses after that.

“It would’ve been a bad case if I didn’t get involved like this in some way!”

Danny McConnell returned as manager of the Rovers side in the USL this season - his second coming a Leckview delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Cathedral Town club have been the dominant force in the Donegal Youth League over recent seasons.

Last summer, after a long spell out of the junior ranks, Rovers decided to return to the Donegal League, entering a team in Division Two. Stephen McConnell’s team sit top of the pile with an unblemished ten-from-ten record.

“I can’t ask any more than that,” he says. “We have to make sure that we don’t become complacent.

“We’ve been in a lot of tough battles this season. At times, especially early in the season, we had to remind the younger players that it’s not youth football anymore. We’ve a very young side; we’re going out every week starting six or seven teenagers.”

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Goalkeeper Blake Forkan, captain Ronan Curran and defender Eddie Moore provide some much-needed experience, although the likes of Caolan McConnell and David O’Donnell have the feels of old heads on young shoulders. Others, like Leon Doherty, have had their toes dipped into the Ulster Senior League and come with little fear.

“This was a big step for the club,” McConnell says. “We didn’t think that we’d be sitting after winning ten out of ten. We do have targets and promotion was definitely one to those at the start of the season.”

Nathan Plumb, who contributed 19 goals, has left for Finn Harps and will be a big miss this weekend when Rovers host their cross-town rivals at the Aura Leisure Complex.

“Bonagee are an experienced side,” McConnell points out. “They have a higher average age than us and have a lot of experienced Ulster Senior League players there. They’re flying in the Premier Division, second at the moment, and they’ll be the favourites.

“It’s up to us to give a good account of ourselves. Our goal, eventually, is to be a Premier Division team so this will let us see where we’re at. We played them earlier in the season in the group stage of the Brian McCormick Cup and drew 1-1.

“The important thing this season was getting the team moving. We noticed that we were in danger of losing a lot of players who maybe reached 18 and just weren’t ready for the Ulster Senior League.

It’s been great to keep them together.”

McConnell is assisted by Marcus Oliver and can call on Rovers stalwarts like Mickey Duffy and Garrett McDaid on a given Sunday.

“I’m enjoying it and learning as I go,” he says. “We’ve a good squad of players and we’re lucky to have them. They all know each other from the Donegal Youth League teams.

“They’re used to winning from that, but they’re jumping now from underage to men’s football. They have a winning mentality.”