A Brief History
Playing under the parish name of St. Columba’s FC, Drumoghill FC, as we now know them, joined the Donegal League in 1975. They have remained there ever since apart from the period from 1984 until 1988 (when they competed in the Winter/Hospital League) and from 1995 until 2001 when their 1995 Premier Division success earned them promotion to the Ulster Senior League.
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Drumoghill were managed by Seamus Neely, Kieran O’Donnell (player manager for a spell) and Johnny Kelly throughout their early years in the Donegal League. They played under the name of St. Columba’s and had reasonable success during that time in teams that had Quinn twins (Danny and Hughie), the McGinty brothers (Dessie & Pat), Gabriel Gillen, Danny McConnell and Seamus McGinty (RIP).
St. Columba's 1975
It was in 1980 that the club changed it’s name to Drumoghill FC and this coincided with a move to an all-red kit. They had mixed success throughout the 1980s but did have ambitions as demonstrated by fielding teams with Peter McNally and Gregory Kearney in them. The club decided to leave the Donegal League in 1984 and played in the very competitive Saturday league that was in place at that time and was known as the Hospital league or Winter league but in 1988 re-joined the Donegal League to resume Sunday football.
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By then, Drumoghill were starting to benefit from a schoolboy structure that was developed by Danny McConnell and Tommy Doherty in 1982, and felt it was time to field a reserve team to provide a platform for the continued development of younger players. They entered the Derry and District league at a time that would trigger a successful period for both teams.
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They missed out on promotion in the ‘88/’89 season but won the old Division 3 title in style in ‘89/’90 by notching up over 100 goals during that season with a side that contained locals such Gerard Sharkey, Paul Lynch, Shaun Dolan, Laurence McConnell, Paul McDonagh, Kevin Neely, Seamus Crossan, Michael Morning, Roger Holmes and Gerard “Diddler” McLaughlin.
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These players were joined by Jessy Purtill, Paddy Ward, Jimmy Doherty (RIP) and James Malseed and had a panel that would become the clubs most decorated ever over the next 5 years. They gained promotion to the Premier Division in 1992 by finishing as runners up behind a Lifford Celtic side that contained Shay Given.
Donegal League Division 1 Runners up 1992
By now, our reserve side had joined the newly formed Donegal Saturday League and they also became successful and won the League and Cup Double in 1993, beating Downtown United to both competitions after a 6-0 final victory at Donegal League Headquarters in Ballyare.This period will be remembered as the glory years for Drumoghill, but the one title that they really wanted still alluded them. The Premier Division.
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At the start of the ‘94/’95 season, McConnell had acquired the services of Mickey Forde, Sean Doherty, Declan O’Donnell, Martin Roarty and a shy young defender that arrived from Ballymena called Evan Logan that played in a quartet that provided the defensive backbone of a side that ended that season as champions. They held off the challenge of Ardara United to clinch it in triumphant scenes that hadn’t been seen before at The Moss. The success though didn’t end there though and the Reds clinched the Sportsman Cup a week later with a penalty shoot out victory over Keadue Rovers.
Premier Division & Sportsman Cup Winners 1995
As League Champions, Drumoghill had earned the right to join the Ulster Senior League and began life at Intermediate level in impressive style, finishing a respectable 4th in their first season. By now, McConnell had acquired width in the form of Jason Gibson and Martin Doherty and some badly needed ‘Steele’ in midfield the form of Julian.
This team looked capable of achieving honours at a higher level and were always a threat over the coming years, but not before McConnell had decided to take up the reins at Swilly Rovers. Gerry Gallagher, Martin Gormley and Laurence McConnell all had spells in the hot seat in the years post McConnell and success finally arrived in 1999 when it was the younger McConnell that led Drumoghill to their only success at Intermediate Level winning the Ulster Senior League Cup against Fanad United in 1999 to add to the Ulster Senior League Reserve Team title in 1998 that was won by Michael Devlin’s promising young side.
In 2001, Drumoghill decided to return to the Donegal League with Shaun O’Donnell as manager. The club progressed steadily under “The Swan” until Kieran O’Donnell succeeded him in 2004. Kieran’s focus was building a team based on the promising youth players that were in the area at the time and the club again started to move through the divisions after a promotion play off victory over Castlefin Celtic in April 2006 and then finishing runners up to Lifford Celtic in 2008 to seal a return to top flight football.
The club did move between the Premier Division and First Division during those years before Michael Lynch took over as manager in 2013. Success quickly returned and Drumoghill won the first division championship with a 3-1 victory over Bonagee United in April 2014, gaining promotion back to the big time.
Donegal League Division 1 Winners 2014
Manager Lynch (who played in the side that won the league in 1995) was determined to make it a double and set his target on winning the Premier Division. The club continued to develop during the 2014/2015 season but fell short at the end with a team that was based on local talent such as the O’Donnell brothers (Liam and Chris), Jockey Wilson, Richard Tinney, Karlos Rodgers and Ritchie Moore. They came agonisingly close to reaching the Ulster Junior Cup Final that season, losing on penalties to Clonmany Shamrocks.
Lynch knew what was needed thought and quickly recruited the players that would develop his side into challengers. Chris Malseed, Paddy Rafferty, Benny Bonner, Philip Whyte and Martin McCauley arrived and from the opening day of the season it was clear that Drumoghill had what it took. They did it the hardway though in their final game when, needing only a draw against relegation candidates Gweedore Celtic, found themselves 2-1 behind with only 7 minutes remaining. However, defender Ray Quinn was the unlikely hero when he swivelled inside the box to clinch only our second ever Premier Division title.
Donegal League Premier Division Winners 2016
Captain Christopher O'Donnell receiving the trophy from Terry Leyden (RIP)
Having narrowly missed out on retaining the title in 2017, Lynch stepped down and was replaced by Jockey Wilson who has continued to ensure Drumoghill retain their focus on developing local talent.
Drumoghill FC 2022
Jockey Wilson did a great job in supporting the club's belief that we should develop local talent as much as possible and to help with this, the club introduced a Saturday team in 2016. We were not in another phase of transition so again found ourselves back in Division 2 of the Donegal League. In recent seasons, we have just missed out on promotion as the club consolidates it's status as being one of the stronger teams in the division. The Saturday team have also enjoyed some success during this period, gaining promotion to Division 1 in 2022 under the guidance of Joe McLaughlin.
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The club re-introduced their under-age academy in 2022 and are again building towards developing a pathway from under-age through to the reserve and senior teams in the Donegal League. The future is again bright for the club given the launch of our academy and the excellent work that continues to happen with the development of our facilities.