Tales from the Summer Cups

Johnny Joe McCollum, a member of the Letterkenny Heritage Group had the original idea for “Tales from the Summer Cups” during lockdown in 2021 and he has now compiled an array of stories and many photos of that golden era of Donegal football starting in the 1940s right up to the late 1980s.

The Kennedy Cup in Moville was probably the most lucrative in the early 1960’s with a prize fund of £2,000 to be won, drawing teams from Donegal, Derry, Belfast, as far away as Dublin, Galway and there was even a team from Carfin in Scotland. In later years the Buncrana Cup had a prize fund of €5,000 for teams who reached the final stages before it finally ceased in 1995.

For many players it was practically a full-time occupation playing in Summers Cups in places such as Letterkenny, Ramelton, Milford, Kerrykeel, Rathmullan, Convoy, Buncrana, Moville, Derry, Omagh and as far away as Castledawson. Some players were on the field at least three or four times a week and some of the competitions also attracted top senior players on both sides of the border during their off-season.

Celtic and Manchester Utd great Paddy Crerand played in the Moville Kennedy Cup, as did several other English and Scottish players of note and Fr. Willie McMenamin recalls playing against Paddy Crerand in a 7-a-side final at the Cranford Sports.

Johnny Joe McCollum has invited former Finn Harps captain Jim Sheridan and former Manchester City captain Jobby Crossan to be the special guests for the book launch.

Derry teams were of course a huge part of the Summer Cup scene, with teams such as the famous Derry Harps, Foyle Rovers, Derry Celtic, Shelbourne, Bohemians and Brandywell Harps just some of the sides who drew bumper crowds to the Bay Field in Moville and Maginn Park, Buncrana every summer.