Rathmullan Celtic will be highly fancied to blitz their way to promotion following some stellar off-season signings by manager Mark Curran.

Rathmullan Celtic will be highly fancied to blitz their way to promotion following some stellar off-season signings by manager Mark Curran. "We've signed Eamon Sheridan from St. James' Gate; while Paddy Sheridan, Eoin Sheridan, Thomas Sheridan and Dara Patton have all come back too," confirmed Curran, who will be joint-manager with Dessie McLaughlin for the Seasider's this year.

"They are obviously great signings to have back with the club, the only problem is Eoin and Eamon are the only ones fit enough to play on Sunday against Bonagee."

While Curran admitted the aforementioned captures are quite the coup, he feels very satisfied with some of the young talent bursting thorough the ranks at the Flagpole Park outfit.

"It's definately the strongest squad we've ever had at the club. And while people are saying we are looking very strong with the players we've signed, I'd be equally as optimistic with the U18's coming though. We have five or six of them that on their day would push each one of those guys for a starting place. Promotion is obviously the minimum requirement and expectation this season. We want to do it winning the league.

"We felt last year that we would've got promoted if it wasn't for so many derbies we had. Form goes out the window in those games and really, it becomes quite hard to go on a run of games without losing. That's why we like playing in the Junior Cup so much when you play the likes of Redcastle.

"When you're playing the likes of Whitestrand and Kerrykeel every other week there is always an element of you know who you're playing against and you want to prove you're better than them; instead of treating it like any other game," said Curran.

"We lost Niall Doherty last year with a cruciate and he won't be back until November, but will be a great boost when he does come back. We've also signed young Aaron McClafferty from Downings, he came in for the last few games of the season last year and did really well."

Of all the sides who have been competing in the Brian McCormick Sports Cup over the past two weeks, it's been the form of Raphoe Town that has perhaps been the most notable.

On Sunday last, Raphoe defeated Drumoghill FC 4-2 to lift the Lifford Area Shield. Following wins over Premier Division Lifford Celtic and First Division outfit Castlefin, their win over Drumoghill - just relegated from the Premier Division - gives them a real boost heading into the CT Ball Division Two campaign.

That starts this Sunday when they head for the island to take on Arranmore United.

Under the management of Englishman Martin McClintock - who had a long association with Christ the King FC in Coventry before moving to Ireland - Raphoe's fortunes have been boosted with some astute signings. Local men like striker Ryan McCullagh, midfielders David Craig, Frankie McBrearty and John Sweeney, as well as Thomas McHugh and Garrett Quinn, have returned to their hometown club following respective spells in the Ulster Senior League.

Sunday's capturing of the Area shield is the first piece of silverware since 2002, when a promising batch of young players won the Division Two title. And the win sends them into the League season with confidence high.

"We have been very pleased with the start that we've had. We have a number of new players on board, who have definately strengthened the squad," McClintock said earlier this week.

McClintock is in his first full season with the club having been brought on board during last season.

He said: "I started last season when a friend of mine at work, Gary McCullagh, asked me if i would consider going back into the game. There were a couple of lads looking after the team who wanted to keep playing. I took a couple of training sessions and they enjoyed it. They asked me if I'd take it on, I agreed and I've been enjoying it."

McClintock paid tribute to the 'sterling work' being done by the likes of Liam Porter and Stephen Connaghan behind the scenes. While not making any bold prediction for the new season, he is hopeful that Raphoe can make a surge for the promotion spots.

He said: "I wouldn't like to make any predictions as to how we're going to do, but it would be our aim to try to get promotion. It's important for the club to move forward. Raphoe Town have been in higher leagues, but we have gone down. We've been trying to introduce new, young players and Liam and Stephen have been doing a sterling job to that end.

"Hopefully we can build a more secure platform and we can get some stability in. Our aim will be to win promotion and we'll do what we can to have that as the number one priority.

"Winning the Area Final on Sunday was a real bonus. It gives us hope and something to look forward to later on in the season. Players will hopefully be playing for places now with that in mind. We're having good numbers at training now and hopefully that will create an atmosphere in the squad. We want players to feel that they're part of a good team and they'll want to be in the starting eleven."

The 40th season of the Donegal League begins this Sunday afternoon. Many ties have been severed in the seasons since organised football first started in the summer of 1971, but in Kerrykeel there remains one unbroken link in the chain to the beginning.

John Joe McAteer is a throwback to the days when changing rooms were but a dream for many clubs, where shower facilities were a luxury that local clubs couldn't even consider and when making contact with a player was a task much more arduous than it is now.

In 1971, when organised football announced its arrival in Donegal, Kerrykeel were one of the first entrants to the first ever season and they named one John Joe McAteer as their manager.

After 39 years at the helm of good ship Kerrykeel, John Joe is at the wheel once again. On Sunday afternoon, a trip to Copany Rovers for the opening CT Ball Division Two game of the season starts out a familiar journey.

John Joe's plans for season number 40 have been hampered by the loss of a few key players. "We have to go back to the old boys and get them back again," he muses, noting that the likes of TD Niall Blaney, Cllr Liam Blaney and Gerard Sweeney have inked their names to the registration forms once again.

"There's a new team in Fanad, Mulroy Celtic, but once the GAA is finished we'll get some of those boys back again. We've lost eight or nine players between Whitestrand and Mulroy. It makes it a bit harder, but that's just football."

Kerrykeel are back at 'home' this season again. For four years, they played on the second pitch at Triagh-A-Locha, after the Donegal League ruled that Darney Park was no longer up to staging games. This season, they're back in Kerrykeel, and will operate out of Rabs Park fo the campaign.

His hopes for the season are to win the division - a task he admits will be a stern one between now and April, though.

"We're going to try and win it. You have to think like that and you just have to go out and do your best. That's all you can do.

"It's going to be a very competitive league. Rathmullan have brought a lot of new players and Raphoe Town seem to be going well. They won their Area in the Brian McCormick Cup last week. They beat teams like Lifford and Drumoghill so they must be on the right track.

"I'm looking forward to it. We played Milford in the cup and we lost 1-0. I thought we were very unlucky that day, it was a game that could have gone either way".

Successes have been few and far between, but there have been a couple of memorable highs. "The high point would have been winning the league for the first time in 1993/94. That was a special time and the really big win for the club - and we managed to do it again in 2000/01," said McAteer.