Bundoran suffered their second home defeat in Gaelic Park in a week following the visit of the men from the cathedral town on Friday night.
Bundoran 2-13 St Eunans 4-14
By Noel Carr
Despite a battling second half performance they will rue the concession of several goals of the soft variety.
Veteran forward Tommy Hourihane got the scoreboard ticking with a free after two minutes.
St Eunans were soon ahead with a fine effort from Conor O’Donnell followed by a point by Peter McEniff.
The home side then enjoyed a fruitful five minutes with points from Cian McEniff, Daragh Hoey and Hourihane.
The Letterkenny men finally got their running game functioning with firstly McEniff and then Sean McVeigh splitting the posts.
A short kickout on 13 minutes was intercepted by the alert Jordan O’Dowd who set McVeigh up to blast home.
Further points from O’Donnell and Brian McIntyre left the visitors 5 up midway through the half.
Two frees from McEniff and Hourihane reduced the deficit before the towering Rory Carr (pictured) found his range on 24 minutes.
The Letterkenny men, in their white Donegal jerseys to avoid the clash of colours, found the net again when corner forward Conor Gibbons fisted a ball across the goals for the in rushing James Kelly to palm to the net.
Bundoran responded well with scores from Alan Russell and Hourihane.
Then with the last kick of the half the excellent O’Dowd boomed over to leave the halftime score
Realt na Mara 1-07 St Eunans 2-08
On the resumption both sides exchanged early points from Carr and Hourihane.
Another O’Dowd effort edged the visitors further ahead.Then on 36 mins cornerback Sean Halvey did brilliantly to provide Conor Gibbons the ammunition to fire home for a third goal for St Eunans.
At this stage it looked like it was game over but to their credit the homeside dominated the next 15 minutes, hitting 1-3 whilst keeping Eunans scoreless.
Points from Timmy Govorov and two from Hourihane and a well crafted goal by Johnny Boyle after great work from second half sub Michael McEniff left two between the sides with 15 minutes left on the clock.
A much needed score from another sub, Oisin Carr, stemmed the flow before Cian McEniff again replied with another free.
Two more frees for either side from Carr and McEniff left it a two point game with three minutes left.
As the homeside attacked another Johnny Boyle effort went agonisingly wide from exactly the same spot as he had earlier goaled from.
But there was to be no fairytale ending for Niall Dunne’s men as points from Conor Parke and Carr eased the nerves before another catastrophic mistake at the heart of the Realt na Mara defence gifted Rory Carr the easiest of tasks to tap home.
Bundoran: Conor Carty; Matthew Duffy, Diarmuid McCaughey, Matthew Ward; Oisin Walsh, Shane McGowan, Johnny Boyle (1-0); Niall Carr, Ciaran McCaughey; Timmy Govorov (1-0), Gary Clancy, Cian McEniff (0-4f); Tommy Hourihane (1-6, 5f), Alan Russell (0-1) Daragh Hoey (0-1). Subs: Michael McEniff for Clancy (38), Brian McHenry for Ward (54), Paul Delaney for Carr (58).
St Eunans: Conor Harley; Sean Halvey, Conor Morrison, Conor Parke (0-1); Brian McIntyre (0-1), Sean Ryan, Daragh Mulgrew; Conor O’Donnell (0-2) Sean McGettigan; Jordan O’Dowd (0-2), James Kelly (1-0), Sean McVeigh (1-1); Peter McEniff (0-2), Rory Carr (1-4, 3f)
Conor Gibbons (1-0). Subs: Niall Hannigan for McVeigh (40), Oisin Carr (0-1) for McGettigan (black card, 42).
Referee: Greg McGroary (Four Masters)
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