Luton – Unsung Heroes – Darron McDonough

It has been a while since the latest in our mini-series appeared on our front page.

But with a summer ahead of us I expect there will be several former players that are featured.

Indeed, if you want to suggest anyone, simply drop me a line in the comment facility beneath this article.

For the latest in this ongoing series, I have chosen Darron Karl McDonough.

McDonough, a midfielder, was born in Antwerp, in Belgium, on 7 November 1962 but was raised in Lancashire.

He got his breakthrough in the game when he signed for Oldham Athletic as an apprentice back in 1980.

Whilst at Boundary Park he went on to make 183 league appearances scoring 14 goals before taking the plunge and moving south to join Luton Town with the fee being a respectable £87,000, in 1986.

As a Hatter he went on to make 105 appearances during his six-year stay and scored 5 goals.

However, his Luton career was hampered by injuries and the combative midfielder was unfortunate to miss the memorable League Cup Final victory, at Wembley, over Arsenal, in 1988 due to an injury.

McDonough was present though, the following year, when Nottingham Forest beat us, at Wembley, in the final of the same competition.

His tough tackling midfield play brought Darron to the attention of Newcastle United and in 1992 he became Kevin Keegan’s first signing during his spell as manager of the Geordie side.

Sadly, injury was to curtail his career and a snapped Achilles tendon ended his playing career after just 3 fixtures for his new club.

Although McDonough was never a prolific scorer, he did get on the scoresheet 5 times for the Hatters, with one of them being in the memorable 7-4 victory over Oxford United on 6-February 1988.