Letterkenny Rovers 1 - 5 Derry City

Letterkenny Rovers were overpowered by the quality of Premier Division side Derry City who emerged victorious by five goals to one in this pre-season encounter at the Letterkenny Sports Complex last Friday night.

The match had only been arranged earlier that day after Shelbourne postponed their trip to the north-west due to the weather conditions. The Dubliners were due to play Derry at the Brandywell followed by a match with Rovers on Saturday.

However, Dermot Keely's men will fulfil their pre-season friendly against Rovers with the match now re-fixed for Sunday, February 22nd – a match in which all proceeds are going to the Aoife Carr Appeal Fund.

Stephen Kenny's men went into this game having just returned from a week long training camp in Spain as they continue their preparations for the new League of Ireland season in which they are hotly tipped to be strong title contenders.

And the Derry boss fielded a strong team which included new signing Liam Kearney from Cork City, the experienced Peter Hutton at centre-back, midfielders Barry Molloy and Gareth McGlynn as well as last season's leading goalscorer Mark Farren. Pat Jennings, son of the legendary former Tottenham and Arsenal goalkeeper, was in goal.

It was a first outing of the season for Letterkenny Rovers and manager Eamonn McConigley used the occasion to give debuts to Shane Bradley and Johnny Gallagher but Ciaran Greene – back from Sligo Rovers – was unavailable.

Anthony Gorman started in the centre of midfield as he came up against the club where he spent a season as assistant manager and gave a performance that belies his years.

Played in snowy conditions, Derry raced into a three goal lead in the opening half an hour as they brought a tempo to the game that their Ulster Senior League opponents found hard to match.

Gareth McGlynn opened the scoring with a low drive before Kearney scored on his debut with an exquisite chip that beat goalkeeper Caolan McGettigan and Mark Farren managed to beat the offside trap to make it 3-0.

To Rovers' credit, they enjoyed a good spell in the second half and were rewarded with a goal when Mark Friel cut in from the left before unleashing a stunning effort past Jennings. Both Darren McElwaine and Paddy McNulty also produced opportunities to further reduce the deficit.

Late in the game, Farren's burst of speed took him past Marty McAteer to add a fourth goal to Derry's tally before Ciaran Martyn completed the scoring as the game reached a conclusion.

Letterkenny Rovers: Caolan McGettigan, Conal McGonigle, Shane Bradley, Martin McAteer, Kieran Gorman, Mark Friel (Hugo Daly 80), Joshua Mailey (Garbhan Grant 65), Anthony Gorman, Johnny Gallagher, Darren McElwaine, Paddy McDaid (Paddy McNulty 46).

Derry City: Pat Jennings, James McClean (Eddie McCallion 50), Seamus Sharkey, Peter Hutton, Clive Delaney, Liam Kearney, Barry Molloy (Ruaidhri Higgins 50), Ciaran Martyn, Mark Farren, Thomas Stewart (Sammy Morrow 75) Gareth McGlynn.