Football

Ulster Club minor semi-final keeps St Eunan's in eye of storm

Rory Carr has been a regular on both St Eunan's minor and U21 sides this year  
Rory Carr has been a regular on both St Eunan's minor and U21 sides this year   Rory Carr has been a regular on both St Eunan's minor and U21 sides this year  

A NUMBER of St Eunan’s players had been set for a very busy Christmas period until the threat of Storm Eva saw their Donegal U21 final against Kilcar, scheduled for Wednesday, called off.

Now, they’ll have just one huge game for the club to worry about when they take on Fermanagh champions Enniskillen Gaels in the Ulster minor tournament semi-final on Sunday. Goalkeeper Mattie Gallagher, full-back Darragh McWalters, plus forwards Oran McGinley and Rory Carr have been regulars on the U21 side that is defending the county title, but others have also been involved.

“We have seven or eight minors in the U21 panel and, apart from the four regulars, any one of the others could be in the team at any time,” said minor manager Eddie Brennan before the news that the U21 decider had been postponed.

“It is a busy time for the lads and, I suppose, unusual for players to be involved in two major games within three days, but there is no way that we would stop the players being involved in both teams.”

While St Eunan’s had a great win over Slaughtneil in the quarter-final, after Robert Emmett’s had stopped Glen’s bid for a fifth consecutive Derry and Ulster title, Enniskillen enjoyed a thrilling victory over Antrim champions St Enda’s.

The Donegal and Derry title-holders produced a hair-raising end to their quarter-final before the former slipped through to the Sunday’s semi. Minor training was suspended for a few weeks after that victory, but the U21s were still active.

After being 11 points adrift at half-time against St Enda’s, Enniskillen also produced a spine-tingling second-half, snatching victory (3-9 to 3-7) right on the hour with an opportunist goal from sub Ronan Quinn.

“I hear that St Eunan’s is a pretty big team and that could cause us problems,” says Gaels co-manager John Rehill, who hasn’t seen the Donegal team in action.

Their manager hasn’t seen Gaels either. Enniskillen’s only other appearance in the Ulster club event was in 1988, when they went all the way to beat Maghery in a superb final that took two-and-a-half games to decide. There is a connection with that team and this year’s.

“Brendan Doris and I were also the managers in 1988, but I’m not putting that down to the fact that we got over the first hurdle this year. Maybe just a coincidence,” said Rehill.

St Eunan’s manager Brennan puts Slaughtneil’s late comeback down to a lapse of concentration, but he will surely be warning the Letterkenny boys against that happening on Sunday, after the Gaels’ storming second-half against Donaghmoyne, when they netted 3-6 against just three points by the losers.