The restructuring of the All-County League brought St Mary’s a daunting opening fixture against St Eunan’s in Letterkenny, where they were roundly defeated with Eoin McGeehin slapping home two goals.
St Eunan’s 4-14 St Mary’s Convoy 0-4
The team housed in Convoy won their way out of Division 3 last season but with the rejig and regionalisation of the leagues with the CoVid-19 pandemic forcing a restructure meant it was a socially distanced O’Donnell Park for starters.
Although they looked social distant on the scoreboard at the end, they caan take certain positives from their performance early on.
St Eunan’s lined out strong a fortnight out from their SFC opener in Bundoran, the side they meet next week in the league too and by half-time were 1-6 to 0-3 in front – the goal coming on 12 minutes when Conor Morrison tucked home a rebound following a save from St Mary’s goalkeeper Sean Patton. The visitors scored three points from Paddy Dolan.
St Eunan’s didn’t add a second goal till the final quarter, when they managed to land three to seal at the win. McGeehin palmed the first of his double from a Padraig McGettigan pass on 48 minutes and then did the same from a Conor O’Donnell Jnr assist on 52.
O’Donnell then managed to score a fourth Eunan’s goal on 56 minutes, while fellow substitute Padraig McGettigan scored three from the bench and Thornton would’ve been happy with the contributions of Shane O’Donnell and Rory Carr, who got two points apiece. Joe McGill scored the only St Mary’s point of the second half.
St Eunan’s: Shaun Patton; Aaron Deeney, Conor Morrison (1-0), Conor Moore; Caolan Ward, Peter Devine, Peter McEniff (0-1); Darragh Mulgrew (0-1), Sean McGettigan; Kevin Kealy, Shane O’Donnell (0-2), James Kelly (0-1, f); Eamonn Doherty, Rory Carr (0-2, 1f), Eoin McGeehin (2-0). Subs: Conor Parke for Morrison, Padraig McGettigan (0-3, 2f) for Carr, Conor O’Donnell Jnr (1-0) for Kelly (36), Niall Hannigan (0-2) for Kealy (42); Cormac Finn for S O’Donnell, (48).
St Mary’s, Convoy: Sean Patton; Conal McDermott, Johnny Kee, Michael Patton; Ronan Donnellan, Dean Bonner, Thomas McHugh; Raymond McNamee, Liam Toye; Paddy Dolan (0-3, 1 ‘45, 1f), Laurence McMullen, Brian McNamee; Peter Blake, John Toye, Joe McGill (0-1, f).
Subs: Matthew Coyle for Donnellan and Paul O’Leary for L Toye (half-time), Mark Ayton for McNamee 45, Liam Mailey for Patton (45), Ciaran Dolan for J Toye (56).
Referee: Val Murray (Aodh Ruadh)
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