St. Eunan’s made a big statement in their bid to retain the Donegal SFC, defeating St. Michael’s by 16 points in the Davy Brennan Memorial Park.
St. Eunan’s 2-15 St. Michael’s 0-5
Niall O’Donnell scored eight points as St. Eunan’s impressed massively in Glenties over a St. Michael’s side that couldn’t break down their opponents.
St Eunan’s started at a quick tempo and when Eoin McGeehin was played in with his back to goal inside two minutes, his turn and shot was well saved down to his right by Oisin Cannon.
Conor O’Donnell Jr got the first point of the game from a free and he doubled the lead with a point from play as Eunan’s countered quickly.
Niall O’Donnell got his first score of the game from close range on 17 minutes in a five minute flurry of scores.
Carlos O’Reilly got St. Michael’s on the board as he fisted over but McGeehin quickly retaliated before Niall scored a mark.
Michael Langan pointed from a free for St. Michael’s to make it 0-5 to 0-2 but the last five minutes of the half were dominated by the Black and Amber.
First, a surging run from Caolan Ward saw him fist over before a trio of points from Niall O’Donnell, two from frees.
It read 0-9 to 0-2 at half-time with St. Michael’s facing an uphill task in the second half.
And it was never going to be easy, with St. Eunan’s scoring the only two points of the first 10 minutes of the restart, through Niall again and Conor O’Donnell Jr.
Daniel McLaughlin got two quick points, one from a free, but the Letterkenny men went up a gear in the next 10 minutes.
First, McGeehin got his second point of the game, before two quick-fire goals.
After a quick counter attack, Ciarán Moore was bearing down on goal and he finished coolly into the corner.
Two minutes later, McGeehin caught the ball, lay it off to Conor O’Donnell Sr, and he found the other bottom corner, leaving it 2-12 to 0-4.
Two more frees from Niall were converted, while McLaughlin got his second free and third in total.
Rory Kavanagh emptied the bench and Pádraig McGettigan was one of those to come on, pointing as he cut in from the right.
St. Eunan’s: Shaun Patton; Conor Parke, Caolan Ward (0-1), Aaron Deeney, Jordan O’Dowd, Conor O’Donnell Sr (1-0), Peter McEniff (0-1); Sean McGettigan, Kevin Kealy; Ciarán Moore (1-0), Shane O’Donnell, Sean McVeigh, Conor O’Donnell Jr (0-3,1f), Niall O’Donnell (08,5f/m), Eoin McGeehin (0-2).
Subs: Kieran Tobin for Deeney (47 mins), Peter Devine and Pádraig McGettigan (0-1) for Kealy and Shane O’Donnell (49 mins), Conor Morrison for Parke (54 mins)
St. Michael’s: Oisin Cannon; Stephen Doak, Liam Paul Ferry, Antoin McFadden, Hugh O’Donnell, Kyle McGarvey, Carlos O’Reilly (0-1); Martin Breslin, Michael Langan (0-1f); Michael Gallagher, Colin McFadden, Daniel McLaughlin (0-3,2f), Andrew Kelly, Martin McElhinney, Oisin Langan.
Subs: Edward O’Reilly for Gallagher (47 mins)
