Goals were the difference in O’Donnell Park last evening as St Eunan’s defeated Buncrana in the Donegal SHC.
St Eunan’s 4-8 Buncrana 2-7
St. Eunans got off to a flying start and by the 10th minute had raced to a six points lead with goals by Niall O’Donnell and Cian Durack.
The latter had opened the scoring with a fine point in the second minute before Kevin Kealy set up O’Donnell who smashed the ball to the roof of the net a minute later.
Jack O’Loughlin converted a ’65 for Buncrana’s opening score in the 8th minute but Eunans responded immediately when O’Donnell burst through again and, when his cracking shot came back off the crossbar, Durack was on hand to drill home the rebound Toni make it 2-1 to 0-1 in favour of the home team.
Buncrana hit back with good points from play by Aedan Stokes, P J McCarron and Oisín Grant but after good work by Colm Flood, Conor Parke added a point for Eunans to leave five between them in the 26th minute.
However the visitors rallied again and got the last two points of the first-half with a Dylan Duffy free and Jack O Loughlin from play to leave the half-time score 2-3 to 0-6 in St. Eunans favour.
The home team increased their lead to five again with excellent scores from play by both Colm Flood and the impressive Eugene Organ but within a minute that lead was reduced to just two when Ben Doherty cracked a fine goal past Kevin Meehan and it was very much game on.
Cian Randles pointed for Eunans in the 38th minute to leave a goal in it but the key period of this contest and the one that decided it was to come between the 43rd and 52nd minutes.
In the 43rd minute Sean McVeigh found Kevin Kealy with a good pass from midfield, the corner forward turned his marker and raced goalwards before cracking a super drive to the top corner for a super goal.
Mealy added two points from play to stretch the lead to eight points and when Niall O’Donnell raced clear to chip in his second goal in the 52nd minute it was game over at 4-8 v 1-6.
To their credit Buncrana kept trying and got the game’s last two scores from a Donall Mc Loughlin point and a second and brillantly taken goal by Ben Doherty, for a final score of 4-08 to 2-07 in St.Eunans favour.
St Eunan’s: Keith Meehan, Brian McIntrye, Conor O’Donnell, Gerard Leahy, John McIntrye, Conor O’Grady (0-1f), Conor Parke (0-1), Colm Flood (0-1), Sean McVeigh, Sean Halvey, Niall O Donnell (2-0), Eugene Organ (0-1), Kevin Kealy (1-2), Ronan Steed, Cian Durack (1-1). Subs: Cian Randles (0-1) for Steed (10), Darragh McCarthy for Randles (57), Eoin Scanlon for Durack (59).
Buncrana: Tom Clare, Fiachra MacLochlainn, Patrick Wilson, Enda O’Rourke, Daniel O’Rourke, Paul Tourish, PJ McCarron (0-1), Aedan Stokes (0-1), Jack O’Loughlin (0-2), Conor O’Rourke, Ben Doherty (2-0), Dylan Duffy (0-1f), Oisín Grant (0-1), Declan McCarron, Donall MacLochlainn (0-1). Subs: Paul Nelson for D.McCarron ( h/t ), Sam Doherty for E.O Rourke (40), and Kevin Vaughan for C.O’Rourke (56).
Referee: Aiden McAleer (Muff).
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