Cullen praises the hunger of his side who take top honours at Sports Star awards

It was a night to celebrate for Cockhill Celtic last Friday in the Mount Errigal Hotel with the Inishowen club sweeping some of the top honours on the night at the Donegal Sports Star awards. 

The club was named Team of the Year, manager Gavin Cullen received the Coach/Manager of the Year award, and striker Garbhan Friel was recognised as Player of the Year in the soccer category. 

The 2024 season was historic for Cockhill Celtic, with their first-ever FAI Junior Cup triumph against Gorey Rangers being the pinnacle of the season as they became the third Donegal club after Swilly Rovers and Finn Harps to win the national competition.  

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In a tense final at Eamonn Deacy Park in Galway, the match concluded 1-1 after extra time, leading to a penalty shootout where Cockhill emerged victorious with a 3-1 scoreline. Goalkeeper Harry Doherty was instrumental, saving three penalties, and it was Friel who sealed the win by converting the decisive spot-kick. 

Briefly reflecting on the club’s accolades from last year, Cullen expressed his pride: “I’m always very proud no matter what the team achieves but it’s brilliant when you see the players and the club being honoured by the sporting community in Donegal. 

“I think when we look back at 2024, I don’t think we’ve really reflected on the season too much. It will take a few years to probably realise and understand what a phenomenal year we had where we celebrated so much success, we won five trophies, we had a civic reception with the County Council, and then we had individual awards on top of that.” 

The club rounded off a perfect season last May when they overcame Buncrana Hearts after 110 minutes of football to clinch the Donegal Signs Cup, having already won the Inishowen League, the Inishowen League Cup, and the FAI Junior Cup, before starting the new season on the right by winning the Tom Hand Trophy last August.  

“I suppose anything we wanted to achieve last season we did achieve but we won’t appreciate what we’ve done until about 15 years down the line,” Cullen said.  

“Most people in sport want you to get beat, they try to knock you down, so I hope that at the minute the players are enjoying what they’re achieving and it’s something they can look back on with pride in a few years' time.” 

For Cullen, he believes the key to the club’s success has been the culture created every night the players go out to represent Cockhill. 

“We’ve won 11 league titles in-a-row, we’ve been at the latter stages of most national competitions for a lot of years now, we’ve won 18 cups over a seven, maybe eight-year period, and we’ve only lost 10 league games in 11 years, so we’re not just a flash in the pan,” he admitted. 

“We have a lot of brilliant players in the club. Every night we train we see the hard work and the commitment from the boys, they give their all, and that has created a culture, which has created results. 

“There’s frustration in football too, we hate losing, we lost down in Clare in the FAI Junior Cup two weeks ago and it really was hard to take, but that’s a good thing that people are hurting. We saw that in the next match, we had the lads giving their all, they won 1-0 and we were then back in business. 

“I think our success over the last 11 years has been built on this hunger of never giving up, giving your all to the cause, and the proof has been in the pudding.” 

As Cockhill Celtic basks in the glory of an extraordinary season, the club remains focused on future challenges, aiming to build upon their legacy in Irish football.