WHEN will the real St Eunan’s stand up? That is the big question in Donegal as Barry Meehan’s men face a tough away task against Tyrone champions Errigal Ciaran on Saturday.
On paper, their quality is hard to deny, but they have still won only two of the last four Donegal titles, despite starting as favourites every year.
This year, a game Dungloe side missed a lot of chances in the first half of a close decider and then had a great chance to snatch an unlikely win when a dubious late penalty levelled matters as time ebbed away.
But Eunan’s, who played well in the second half, showed their real quality with three quickfire points to seal a well- deserved win.
On Saturday, they will be underdogs in Healy Park and will need to play for the full 60-plus minutes if they are to have any real chance of success.
Meehan is keenly aware of the challenge facing his charges and that question marks still hang over his gifted charges.
“Dungloe put it up to us in the first half and they put us under a lot of pressure, but they missed quite a number of chances,’’ he says.
“We stood up well in the second half and any team that kicks 1-9 in the second half of a county final deserves to win it.
“They got a penalty which could have been a crippler, and I thought it was a disastrous decision at the time and even watching it back a few times, I still can’t understand why the penalty was given.”
Meehan, however, was very happy with his side’s response.
“I thought we were in control of the game before the penalty. The same thing happened against Naomh Chonaill.”
So, can St Eunan’s produce a big display when it really matters?
“We are looking for that full display and we will have to produce it against Errigal Ciaran and if we don’t we are not going to get over the line.”
Meehan watched Saturday’s opponents in the Tyrone final and admits to being very impressed.
“The Canavans are brilliant, but they have to get the ball to them and they have Joe Oguz, Ben McDonnell, Peter Harte and Aidan McCrory, who are all top-class players.
“They also have a lot of experience, and we will have to stop the supply to the Canavans, as well as stop them from scoring.”
St Eunan’s have potent scoring power of their own in the form of Niall, Shane and Conor O’Donnell (Jnr).Add in Eoin McGeehin, Pauric Boyle and county star Ciaran Moore and Errigal will be wary. Caolan Ward has county experience in defence and Darragh Mulgrew and Kieran Tobin are also major figures.
But they have not come up against any forwards of the calibre of the Canavan brothers (Darragh and Ruairi) and much will depend on how they cope with this major twin threat.
When asked why Donegal teams have not fared better in Ulster, Meehan said: “There are very slim margins in Ulster. There is always just a few points between teams and it is a very high standard of football. Ulster teams won all three All-Ireland Club football titles this year, which shows you how highly competitive this province really is.”
“But we want to be playing against the best teams, and this is a great test for us and hopefully we can stand up to it.
“We have built up a fair bit of experience and Rory Kavanagh did a lot of great work with the lads over the past four years.
“Conor O’Donnell has made a big step up and we have loads of scoring power, but we will need It all.”
