In keeping with the sheer unpredictability of it all, it was night of the unexpected in Division 2 of the All-County Football League.
It was to be a night of coronation for Sean MacCumhaills with Division 3 looming for other one of Termon or Four Masters.
So went the script…
In the end, none of the above transpired.
Bundoran have been crowned Division 2 winners without kicking a ball today and it is Malin who have had their toes tagged for the morgue and will play Division 3 football in 2019.
After Glenfin upset the odds with a win at home to Bundoran on Thursday night, the stage was set for Sean MacCumhaills to win the Division. They needed a point at home to Termon – one of those fighting for their lives – to be sure of a first senior trophy in ten years.
But they hadn’t banked on Termon arriving in Ballybofey, rolling their sleeves up and delving to the trenches.
It had been going to the scrip as MacCumhaills, helped along by Darren O’Leary’s goal after only 14 seconds, led much of the way until McDaid reached for the pendulum and dragged it towards his team.
Termon had been in Division 1 until 2016 and appeared to have arrested a slide after losing their opening handful of fixtures this year. There was even a time where promotion was on the cards until they buckled of late.
But with Sean O’Donnell, Nathan McElwaine and the McDaids, Caolan and Daire, all on form tonight, they kept themselves safe in Division 2 for another year.
Bundoran and MacCumhaills were already assured of promotion, but defeat here was hard for MacCumhaills to swallow.
Their reserves, unbeaten all year, were presented with the Division 2 League title beforehand.
Heads bowed at the end of the senior game. They knew it was a chance missed, but the big prize of a return to Division 1 will be of consolation over the coming months.
Bundoran had no game as Naomh Muire were unable to field at Gaelic Park, but it is Francie Martin’s team who now go up as the Division 2 winners. On Thursday night, following that defeat in Glenfin, Martin had conceded defeat in the title race.
There will be one game left – Naomh Muire to face Glenfin on Tuesday – and now, remarkably, it is meaningless in the grander picture.
Even those in the thick of it hadn’t anticipated a re-write of the script.
Four Masters had won Division 1 as recently as 2010 – when they collected that silverware for the first time in 61 years – but were relegated to Division 2 in 2015.
A season of woe could have ended with their bags packed for Division 3, but McBrearty – only home from America during the week – popped up just in the nick of time.
Six days ago, Malin were toasting survival after a 1-12 to 1-8 win in Termon.
They’d barely been mentioned in the permutations.
And yet it is they who are relegated. Those away wins by Termon and Four Masters will have stung hard around Connolly Park, where Malin lost 1-14 to 1-8 to Ardara. A late Seamus Dohery goal put a little gloss on the scoreline, but the League table paints a grim picture for Malin – who, like Four Masters, dropped to Division 2 only three years ago.
Lorcan O’Donnell’s goal, after a lay-off from Brendan Boyle, paved the way for a deserved win for Ardara and demotion for Malin.
Perhaps after all the twists and turns, the unexpected should have been expected after all.
