'A real football man': Death mourned of Donegal League stalwart Terry Leyden

Tributes have poured in for Terry Leyden following the death of the long-time Donegal football administrator on Friday.

A native of Sligo, Mr Leyden made Donegal his home and he was synonymous with the Donegal Junior League. Late of Augheygault, Drumkeen, he passed away at Letterkenny University Hospital following a short illness.

All activities within the Donegal League - including Sunday’s Oscar Traynor Trophy second leg against Inishowen League - have been called off as a mark of respect.

“He was a real football man,” his close friend and administrative sidekick Dessie Kelly told Donegal Live. “It’s a sad day for football.”

He joined the Donegal Junior League in the late 1970s and he filled a variety of roles.

Most notably, he served as the League’s disciplinary secretary for almost 38 years. He also acted as registrar and was the administrator at The Diamond Park in Ballyare.

“It has been an honour and a privilege for me to serve the Donegal League,” he said at a function in 2022 to mark 50 years of the Donegal Junior League.

“It’s a credit to the clubs and the people involved that we have got this distance.

“We’re strong. We have football for everybody. There isn’t a part of Donegal where you won’t get a soccer match. The standard of pitches and dressing rooms have improved immensely and we’re wanting the best for everybody.”

He filled similar positions on the Donegal Women’s League, Donegal Youth League and Ulster FA, while he was also involved in the Donegal Schoolboys League, now known as the Donegal Underage League. He was a local representative on committees at national level.

“We are heartbroken,” the Donegal League secretary Nigel Ferry told Donegal Live. “I think Terry and the work he did is irreplaceable.

“It is a massive loss to the Donegal League. If anything was needed, Terry was the go-to man. He has been administrating the Donegal League since Roy Wilkie stopped and he workload he carried was unrivalled.

“Nobody really saw the work that Terry did. He carried out the work under the radar, but the League and its clubs knew the work. The time, effort and dedication he put into running football since he has been here has been phenomenal. It was a privilege to work with him and to call him a friend.”

Although based in Drumkeen for decades, he remained an avid Sligo Rovers fan and was a season ticket holder at The Showgrounds.

Away from football, he reached the rank of Quartermaster Sergeant in the Irish Army and he served on overseas peacekeeping missions in Congo and Lebanon. Mementos from his time in the army hung proudly in the clubhouse at The Diamond Park, the headquarters of the Donegal League, where he was based for many years.

Statistics and numbers were his forte. Goalscorers were kept diligently, so too the yellow cards list, often to the chagrin of those at its peril.

Uniquely, he was not officially affiliated to any club in the Donegal League despite his years of long service to the League.

“Terry was very particularly about things,” Mr Kelly said. “He was very helpful and he would take positions that no-one else would take. He would always consult with me to check in on rules and regulations.”

Until very recently, Kelly and Leyden paced the track at Letterkenny Community Centre every morning having relocated their exercise venue from the Letterkenny Town Park. Football and its variety of subplots was always to the forefront.

Mr Kelly, himself was in hospital this week, recalled his friend visiting around a month ago: “He said to me that night: ‘We’ll have to get back walking again, but we never did.

“We would have been up and down the country for FAI meetings over the years and he was a regular caller to the house.

“It was amazing that we were in the hospital ay the one time there.

“Terry was a good man. He will be badly missed.”

Although he wore many administrative hats, it was his involved in the Donegal League that was his greatest passion.

“It is such a shock for us,” Mr Ferry said. “We are absolutely gutted.”

He is survived by his wife Vonnie, daughter Sharon and sons Derek and Paul.

The Donegal Junior League said in a tribute: "His life was so full and he gave so much of his time for the good of others. Diamond Park will never feel the same again. The Man of the House has gone to his eternal reward."