McConnell looking forward to Cup last four encounter with Kildrum Tigers

Letterkenny Rovers will compete in the final four of the Brian McCormick Cup after a dramatic victory over Rathmullan Celtic in the Letterkenny Area final.

The hosts twice came from behind to draw the game level but a Danny Hall goal in the dying embers put Stephen McConnell's side into the latter stages of the competition. 

An end-to-end affair, McConnell noted that while it would have been an excellent spectacle for the neutral in the audience, it was anything but for those involved. 

"We thought we had the game won near the end," he told Donegal Live. "But just 30 seconds later they scored and then we had a great chance and so did they.

"We had a great one-on-one which their keeper saved but then a few minutes later, Reid Kelly put in an unbelievable ball. And if you're gonna win it, the 96th minute is not a bad time”. 

Letterkenny Rovers opened the scoring on the cusp of half-time and goals at that time can often be a confidence booster for the second-half but McConnell admitted that his side weren't at their best in the moments prior to and after the interval. 

"Patrik Gahir and Jordan Nugent are both claiming it," he said on Rovers' opener. "I thought we were poor in the last ten minutes of the first-half but that was when we scored.

"Just before half-time, to get that goal is a big lift and it changes the team talk at the break. If we stopped them scoring, we would win and it was as simple as that but then they scored five minutes into the second-half and you have doubts then.

"Boys are getting tired and you make a few changes and it was a real end-to-end game and the boys worked hard and everyone gave it their all. We nicked it at the end and those last ten, maybe fifteen minutes I thought we really came into it and I thought it was heading for extra time but what a time to get that goal and we're gonna enjoy ourselves tonight”. 

McConnell admitted that their league season has been somewhat disappointing and feels that they have the ability to be fighting for promotion. That hasn't come to fruition this campaign but he noted that they have something to look forward to next weekend and he was keen to get his hands on the Shield after missing out last season. 

"We've lifted the Area Final Shield today, and next week we're in the semi-final against Kildrum Tigers and that's not going to be easy. 

"Last year in this final we dominated the game but lost and it was a sore one and it was the talk before this game for some of the boys. We wanted to get our hands on this and not be walking away from here with the same feeling we had last year."