Letterkenny Rovers and Derry City Reserves portrayed the value of intermediate football in the county when playing out an entertaining game at Leckview Park and it was the home side who deservedly claimed the three points after an enthralling 2-1 win to get their League campaign off to the perfect start.
City manager Kenny Shiels has extolled the virtues of the League since taking over the reins at Brandywell and he once again brought a strong side which featured a number of first team squad members and they were quick out of the blocks dominating possession in the opening ten minutes but created little with the extremely lively Joshua Daniels coming closest on 11 minutes.
Rovers began to get a foothold on proceedings and were excellent for the remainder of the first half and took the lead with their first real chance on 13 minutes when Ryan Gildea pounced on a loose ball out of defence from Christian Castelis and he found Paul McVeigh who in turn saw his cross only half cleared were it fell to Steve Okakpo-Emeka and he made no mistake when blasting home giving visiting netminder Shaun Patton no chance with an angled effort.
Cathal Farren then could have equalised but forced keeper Rory Kelly into a routine save on 20 minutes before McVeigh then teed up his brother Brian who just fired wide while former Candystripe Conor Tourish did well to block Farren when he looked set to score on 27 minutes.
Tourish along with his centre half colleague Ryan Gildea were superb at the heart of the Rovers defence and kept a potent Derry attacking line at bay and were in no mood to give any easy chances although Derry did have two chances to level at the beginning of the second period when Farren and Harry Monaghan both headed narrowly over.
The excellent Paul McVeigh–who was playing his first game of the season after some trials at Alloa Athletic – should have doubled the lead on 53 minutes when latching onto a long clearance from returning goalkeeper Rory Kelly but he somehow squandered the opportunity to double Rovers advantage before Kevin McGrath fired just wide on 59 minutes but Rovers were not to be denied a well merited second on 63 minutes when top marksman Darren McElwaine latched onto a superb pass from Brian McVeigh to beat the offside trap and his low effort beat Patton with the aid of a slight deflection to put Rovers well in command.
Letterkenny notoriously never make anything easy for themselves though and allowed City back into the game on 72 minutes when Farren made no mistake with his header this time from a sublime Joshua Daniels cross to make it 2-1 which meant a nervy ending to the game and although they dominated possession it was Rovers who had the best chance to regain a two goal advantage through Paul McVeigh as he forced Shaun Patton into a wonderful double save on 88 minutes while Derry could have got an equaliser before that as sub Connor Gormleys shot came off the head of fellow sub Stephen Duffy and it could have went anywere but Rovers were relieved to see it go just over the bar.
A good disciplined performance from Eamon McConigleys charges who will be glad to get what would be a rare win over City but will be more than pleased with the level of commitment and performance as his side prepare for another big game next Sunday when welcoming old foes Cockhill Celtic in a mouthwatering FAI Intermediate Cup clash.
Letterkenny Rovers; Rory Kelly, David Shovlin, Chris Flanagan, Ryan Gildea, Conor Tourish, Kevin McGrath, Paul McVeigh, Chrity Connaghan, Darren McElwaine, Brian McVeigh, Steve Okakpo-Emeka.
Sub; Mark Forker for Okakpo-Emeka 80 minutes
Derry City Reserves; Shaun Patton, Adrian Delap, Scott Whiteside, Christian Castelis, Jack Blake, Harry Monaghan, Rory Holden, Dean Brown,Keith Ward, Cathal Farren, Joshua Daniels.
Subs; Connor Gormley, Ronan Wilson and Stephen Duffy for Ward, Holden and Delap all 69 minutes.
