Errigal Ciarán 0-12 St Eunan's 0-10
Ben McDonnell rescued Errigal Ciarán with three late points as they edged out St Eunan’s following a breathtaking second half at O’Neills Healy Park.
The Tyrone champions found the perfect finish to come out the right side of a gripping Ulster Club SFC preliminary round tie that was level on seven occasions.
Shane O’Donnell’s inspired display appeared to have just about done it for the Donegal champions, but the Tyrone men found the will and the hunger to stay in it, before striking for home at the death.
With the Canavan brothers, Darragh and Ruairi, stifled by the expert man-marking briefs of Aaron Deeney and Conor Morrison, Errigal were always going to have to look elsewhere for the avenues of incision that would make the difference, and in Tyrone midfielder McDonnell they had the very man.
Letterkenny suffered a huge pre-match blow with the withdrawal due to injury of county attacker Niall O’Donnell, but his brother Shane sparkled as he took the game confidently to the Tyrone champions, finding gaps in the cover to pick off a couple of superb first-half scores.
That was after Errigal had opened up a 0-03 to 0-01 lead with a couple of Ruairi Canavan efforts and a Peter Harte point inside the opening ten minutes, the visitors’ only reply coming from a free converted by Conor O’Donnell Jr.
Aaron Deeney’s marking brief on Darragh Canavan helped keep things tight at the back for the Letterkenny men, who narrowed the gap through Conor O’Donnell Sr.
But midway through the half Canavan found a pass to release Joe Oguz, who was hauled down as he cut inside. Referee Noel Mooney awarding a penalty, and Peter Harte’s spot kick superbly saved by Shaun Patton.
Ruairi Canavan converted the resulting ’45, but that was their last score of the half, and it was Shane O’Donnell who began to pull the strings as he picked holes in a packed Errigal rearguard to send over a couple of delightful scores.
And a rare but wonderful score from midfielder James Kelly gave St Eunan’s the lead, the same player coming close to poaching a goal as he got on the end of a Shane O’Donnell delivery, only to be denied by keeper Darragh McAnenly.
The Donegal men led by 0-05 to 0-04 at the interval, and with Niall O’Donnell joining the action for the restart, but it was Errigal, now playing into the wind, who regained the lead with quickfire scores from Odhran Robinson and Harte.
But the Donegal men were gaining an increased edge around the middle, with Ciaran Moore finding space along the flanks to bring his front men into the game.
They went back in front through sub Niall O’Donnell, but once Errigal Ciaran substitute Mark Kavanagh brought the sides level again, the game exploded into a frenzy of end-to-end thrills as both teams emptied the tank.
Peter Og McCartan nudged the Red Hand title-holders back in front, but the brilliant Shane O’Donnell stepped up again with two more magnificent scores, and they appeared to have clinched it when Conor O’Donnell Jr drilled a ’45 between the posts.
But McDonnell found openings that just weren’t there in the first 55 minutes, his three scores, two of them deep into stoppage time, carried his side over the line.
Errigal Ciarán: D McAnenly; Ciaran Quinn, A McCrory, Cormac Quinn; T Colhoun, N Kelly, P Og McCartan (0-01); B McDonnell (0-03), J Oguz; C McGinley, P Harte (0-02), P McGirr; D Canavan, O Robinson (0-01), R Canavan (0-03, 1f, 1 ’45)
Subs: T Canavan (0-01) for McGirr (38), M Kavanagh (0-01) for Robinson (44), D Morrow for Ciaran Quinn (58)
St Eunan’s: S Patton; A Deeney, C Morrison, C Ward; D Mulgrew, Conor O’Donnell (0-01), K Tobin; E Dowling, J Kelly (0-01); C Moore, K Kealy, S O’Donnell (0-04); O Winston, E McGettigan, Conor O’Donnell Jr (0-03, 2f)
Subs: N O’Donnell (0-01) for Winston (h-t), P Boyle for McGeehan (46), L McMonagle for Kealy (59)
Referee: N Mooney (Cavan)
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