Donegal Senior Hurling Championship
St. Eunan’s 2-5
Mac Cumhaills 1-7
St. Eunan’s battled to a hard fought victory in the senior hurling championship over last year’s finalists Mac Cumhaills in O’Donnell Park. In a key game for both sides the early exchanges were strongly contested. David Whyte opened the scoring for MacCumhaills with two frees. On 8 minutes St. Eunan’s full forward Colm Breathnach had a penalty brilliantly deflected over the bar by Dylan Laverty in the McCumhaills goal. Then Eugene Organ levelled matters for the home team with a well worked score. A fine strike from the wing by Bernard McMenamin and a Ciaran Matthewson score edged the visitors in front, with Conor McVeigh pointing in reply. After 18 minutes Sean McVeigh broke through a number of MacCumhaills tackles, only to see his shot rebound of the crossbar. Two minutes later Letterkenny corner forward Stephen Doherty fired a loose ball to the net and two more quick scores from Doherty and Sean McVeigh opened a four point gap. Two late MacCumhaills points by Whyte and Lee Henderson cut the margin to two points by half time, 1-5 to 0-6.
As conditions deteriorated on a wet evening scores were hard to come by in the second half. Both sides created opportunities but most efforts fell wide or short. McCumhaills made a breakthrough on 42 minutes when Matthewson raced through the Letterkenny defence and fired an unstoppable shot to the roof of the net. Sean Curran struck a fine point for the visitors shortly after to give them a two point advantage. St. Eunan’s began to dominate possession but could make no impression on the scoreboard, with pressure from the MacCumhaills defence and centre back Jamesie Donnelly coming strongly into the game. With six minutes left, however, the home team’s efforts were rewarded when a long ball from midfielder Colm Flood found its way to the net. In a frantic finish MacCumhaills pressed for an equaliser but the Letterkenny defence held out, with Cormac Goulding and Conor Parke in particular continuing their earlier dominance. A late 65 from Donnelly was cleared by St. Eunan’s and they closed out a one point win.
St. Eunan’s: David Ireland, Francis Lennon, Eunan O’Donnell, Shane O’Connor, Conor Parke, Adie Gaffey, Cormac Goulding, Colm Flood (1-0), Seán McVeigh (0-1), Eugene Organ (0-1), James Connors, Conor McVeigh (0-1), Stephen Doherty (1-1), Colm Breathnach (0-1), Cormac Hartnett. Subs: Mark Timoney, Daniel Lee, Eoin Friel, Darragh Kerrane, Luke Wilson, Anthony Emmett, Michael McGrath, Jack Brennan, Paddy Flood.
Mac Cumhaills: Dylan Laverty, Anthony Patton, Martin McGonigle, Oliver McRory, Michael McMenamin, Jamesie Donnelly, Gary Browne, Justin McGee, Barry McGranaghan, Bernard McMenamin (0-1), Ciaran Matthewson (1-1), David Whyte (0-3), Gerard Cunningham, Paddy Hannigan, Owey McRory. Subs: Lee Henderson (0-1), Sean Curran (0-1), Ciaran O’Leary, John Anthony Chambers.
Referee: Alan Nash.
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