There was huge excitement at O’Donnell Park when Buncrana hurlers won their first ever Minor Hurling Championship.
It featured the new kids on the the block, Buncrana against the experienced Setanta Minors. While the scoring was low the excitement was high.
Buncrana got off to a good start with three points in the first quarter after which Setanta opened their account with one point.
Buncrana squandered some chances and eventually Sam Doherty put his side 4 points to 1 up. A very fine goal from Raymond McNamee sent the Killygordon supporters into high voice. Buncrana ended the half one point ahead.
The second half was tense from beginning to end Buncrana’s defence marshalled by Captain Donal Mclaughlin for long periods was under siege by a rather wasteful Setanta attack.
However Setanta hit a purple patch scoring 3 unanswered points one of them a long range effort from Matthew Dalton and with five minutes left the teams were level, Buncrana 0-7 and Setanta 1-4.
The Referee Eddie Nash then awarded the Inishowen side a free from 40 metres out which Sam Doherty cooly pointed.
In spite of Setanta’s best effort Buncrana held to win their first ever Minor Championship.
Much credit must go to their Manager Seamus Grant who has worked tirelessly in recent weeks to bond his squad together.
From a Buncrana point of view the future of this squad looks very bright as they will lose only three players in the year ahead.
The Setanta players in spite of their great disappointment of losing a final behaved with sportsmanship and dignity from beginning to end. O’Donnell Park was a fitting venue for a fine final.
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