ONE THING IS for certain – it was as dramatic as you can get.
Buncrana 3-6 St Eunan’s 1-11
St Eunan’s had put in a heroic second half to put themselves on the brink of winning the County Minor Hurling Championship this evening in Burt, two points up in injury time.
The Letterkenny side conceded a free, which they had disputed, but when the dust settled it was all eyes on Ben Doherty, who was about 30 metres from goal just left of centre.
With half of Inishowen and the Cathedral town in the St Eunan’s square, the Buncrana midfielder given the nod to his manager Seamus Grant to acknowledge that a point wasn’t going to be enough.
[adrotate group=”56″]Doherty’s strike wasn’t as clean as he might’ve hoped but he still got plenty behind it and next thing it was in the St Eunan’s net. Buncrana had pulled it from the fire; they won by a single point.
There was almost a muted celebration from the winners afterwards, as the tears streamed down the face of some of those in black and amber wondering what have been.
They might’ve wondered what might’ve happened had they Niall O’Donnell – the Donegal minor footballers’ captain – who stood on the sidelines supporting the club hurlers he also represents with distinction.
After that late goal and even Hugo Wallace’s full-time whistle, St Eunan’s Sean Halvey was shown a red card for his protestations at the award of the free that proved to be the match-winner.
There was, though, reason to credit both sides. St Eunan’s came within a whisker of a fine victory following an excellent second half performance, while Buncrana deserve a pat on the back or two for the way the clung into the contest and managed to win it when the odds were stacked against them.
As a contest it had opened brightly, with both teams grabbing goals inside of the first 10 minutes. It was Ray Durack’s St Eunan’s who struck the first of those. Shane O’Donnell’s ball fell to Kevin Kealy, broke to Cian Durack and Thomas Harnett netted on seven minutes.
That made the score 1-1 to 0-2 but two minutes later, following a raking long free from Paul Tourish, Oisin Grant got in behind Conor Kelly and held off the challenge before shooting past Eoin McLaughlin for an instant Buncrana reply.
The St Eunan’s team who took on Buncrana in Burt this evening
By the time 13 minutes came, it was 1-3 to 1-3 with both teams showing their offensive prowess but then came a rain shower of biblical proportions and although the two sides certainly battled gamely thereafter, it made for a different type of match.
Margins were thin until the break, by which time it was Buncrana who went in 1-6 to 1-4 ahead with Dylan Duffy popping over two late frees.
Buncrana are emerging as a considerable force in underage hurling but two years ago they were beaten by St Eunan’s in the Under-16 final and memories of that were fresh in the heads of both sets of players.
[adrotate group=”38″]St Eunan’s were completely dominant in the third quarter and by the 48th minute, had outscored their opponents 0-6 to 0-0 in that spell – with Kealy scoring twice, Matthew O’Donnell, Jack Greene and Shane O’Donnell and Ryan Hilferty all adding points.
Defensively, St Eunan’s were excelling as well as Buncrana had only one shot – which fell wide – in that timeframe as they trailed 1-10 to 1-6.
Ten minutes from time Buncrana got a goal that reignited their hopes. Tourish again provided the ammunition and Niall Doherty fed Aaron Craig to his right and the wing-forward’s shot was through the eye of the needle as it pierced into the St Eunan’s goal whizzing inside the post by millimetres as it did.
It was anyone’s game now and St Eunan’s missed out when they hit their fourth and fifth wides of the second half but at the same time were indebted to their goalkeeper McLaughlin for a quite remarkable save to deny Oisin Doherty on the turn five minutes from time.
[adrotate group=”68″]St Eunan’s broke and Shane O’Donnell streaked into space to split the posts to make it 1-11 to 2-6 with three minutes left.
Buncrana piled forward and St Eunan’s defended as if their last cent depended on it. Just when it looked as though it was going to suffice, referee Wallace awarded a free and Ben Doherty produced the most unlikely finale to ensure the silverware goes back to the Scarvey.
Their captain Kevin Vaughan was almost apologetic in his after-match speech; but his team had come to win and in the end, that’s what they did. It’s three in a row.
Buncrana: Declan McCarron; John Vaughan, Paddy Wilson, Enda O’Rourke; James Doherty, Paul Tourish (0-1, 1f), Fiachra MacLochlainn; Ben Doherty (1-0, 1-0f), Niall Doherty; Aaron Craig (1-1), Oisin Grant (1-0), Daniel Deery (0-1); David Doherty, Dylan Duffy (0-3, 2f), Kevin Vaughan. Subs: Oisin Doherty and PJ McCarron for D Doherty and J Doherty (half-time), Conor O’Rourke for Daly (58).
St Eunan’s: Eoin McLaughlin; Brian McIntyre, Shane Maguire, Conor Kelly; PJ McBrearty (0-1), Ryan Hilferty, Darragh Doherty; Sean Halvey, Kevin Kealy (0-3, 1f); Cian Durack, Cian Randles, Shane O’Donnell (0-3, 1f); Thomas Harnett (1-1), Jack Greene (0-1), Matthew O’Donnell (0-2). Subs: Ethan Doherty for Randles (49), Des Kenny for Durack (53), Sean Tourish for Harnett (59).
Referee: Hugo Wallace (Burt).
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