THE CHARLIE O’Donnell Sports Grounds hosts one of its biggest days on Saturday when Cockhill Celtic face SSE Airtricity League of Ireland Premier Division outfit Longford Town in the third round of the Irish Daily Mail FAI Senior Cup (kick-off 5pm).
The three-in-a-row double winners in the Ulster Senior League, Cockhill reached this stage thanks to a 3-0 win over St Mochta’s from Dublin in May.
A place in the quarter-finals of the blue ribband competition is at stake and Cullen, a former Finn Harps goalkeeper, doesn’t need reminding of the prestige of the competition.
It has been a summer of change for the Inishowen club, the standard-setters and standard-bearers in the local intermediate scene of late.
Cullen has taken over as player-manager in a management team that includes Shane Gallivan and Daniel Nolan (the management team are pictured above) following the departure of Donal O’Brien, whose last game in charge was that win against St Mochta’s.
O’Brien led the revolution in Cockhill with the League and League Cup secured in each of the last three seasons.
“Undoubtedly, Donal’s shoes are huge to fill,” Cullen told Donegal Sport Hub.
“This club has probably overachieved in the last few years in many ways. Well, maybe not so much overachieved, but people could probably say that we have done – but we’ve earned the success.
“For us now, it’s a matter of keeping the good habits going. Behind the scenes, people are doing massive work and the players are putting in massive effort too.
“We are where other teams in Donegal want to be – and we want to stay there.”
In May, Gerry Gill scored twice and Matthew Henry netted the other against St Mochta’s, but both have departed the club to sign for Greencastle FC.
Ryan Varma has gone to Institute and Liam O’Donnell has retired, meaning it’s a much changed line-up.
That said, Cullen has been busy himself in the transfer market. Ronan Ollie Doherty has come in from Institute, Ronan Newman Doherty has signed from Carndonagh with Benny McLaughlin added from Culdaff and Darren Coyle captured from Clonmany Shamrocks.
Jason Breslin had been with Finn Harps Under-19s and has penned paper with Cockhill with Chris McLaughlin, a Derry native most recently with Chelmsford in England, having his international clearance processed this week in time to face Longford.
Cullen said: “We have been used to success, but there is a wee bit of transition now and all of the players that we have added are aged between 18 and 20.
“Training has been excellent and numbers-wise we have anythig from 22 to 32 players each night.”
Cockhill have yet to welcome Malachy McDermott and Johnny Havlin back from spells out of the country while Derek Doherty is out with a knee injury.
Last year, Cockhill pushed Drogheda United close, but lost out 4-2 on a night when Declan O’Brien netted a hat-trick.
Now, they’re eyeing the scalp of Longford, who overcame Finn Harps after a replay in the previous round.
Cullen said: “It’s a really tough ask. If we’re being honest, we don’t have a hell of a lot of hope of going through, but we will give this our best shot.
“They’re the overwhelming favourites and rightly so. They’re in the middle of a season and the Cup represents their only chance of silverware so they’ll be going all out for a win.
“It’s great that we have this game at home. The new facilities we have are top class and it’s great for the people who work tirelessly for the club to get this game at their own place.
“These people do so much and deserve this game.”
Cullen played in goal for Harps in 2000 when they beat Longford 7-1 in an FAI Cup replay at Finn Park.
Tags: