Josh McGee Cronolly steps up as Setanta topple St Eunan’s in SHC decider

It might not have quite lived up to its billing but Setanta won’t care one little bit as a late Josh McGee Cronolly goals blitz finally helped tip the scales in O’Donnell Park. 

In what had been a claustrophobic enough SHC decider, St Eunan’s seemed to have finally found a genuine foothold when they went 10-6 clear at the end of the third quarter. 

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However, Gerard Gilmore helped reel that gap in with McGee Cronolly, quiet up until that point, finally making his presence felt for the first time on 53 minutes by squaring matters up at 0-11 each.  

And as things ticked slowly towards injury time, McGee Cronolly rounded Lorcan Heavey along the endline and blasted in the first of that brilliant late double. 

And three minutes into the red, the same player made sure of things as he again powered through to rattle the net in a grandstand finish for Setanta. 

The opening stanza was scrappy and while it had its fair share of bite, it had little by way of quality or standout moments. 

Setanta clocked up nine wides in that first 30 minutes to St Eunan’s six, with neither able to really put a stamp on matters.  

Gilmore passed up on a routine opportunity to move his team 4-1 clear on 11 minutes and that let off opened a door of sorts for St Eunan’s. 

Brian MacIntyre had moved Chris McAuley’s side in front early on but with Gilmore levelling and Sean Ward quickly following that up, the Cross men now had the early upper hand. 

Gilmore then fired over his second, this time from play, but after that uncharacteristic wide, instead of moving three clear, Eunan’s went right down the other side and through Kevin Kealy, narrowed matters to 3-2 at the end of the opening quarter. 

Gilmore was back to his usual self soon after as Mark Marley's side again doubled their lead. But in a contest that just wouldn’t ignite, Eunan’s had the better of the closing ten minutes, posting three on the bounce to come from two down to one in front by the 28th minute. 

Kieran Larkin grabbed the first of that trio while Cathal O’Brien fired over back-to-back frees to once again push St Eunan’s to the fore.  

However, nearing the end of added time, Gilmore rammed over his fourth to make sure the sides were deadlocked at the break. 

St Eunan’s exited the blocks with a real head of steam on the restart with Cian Randles and O’Brien, from a free, pushing them 7-5 up. 

A superb Gilmore free on the wide left, from distance, again reeled matters into the minimum. 

But a Black and Amber scoring spurt of three, two frees off the hurl of O’Brien and a superb individual effort from MacIntyre, saw Eunan’s make some accelerated headway in a game that now sat at 10-6 in their favour. 

With Setanta appearing on the verge of buckling, Gilmore was again the one standing up and being counted. 

He rattled off three huge frees and going into the final ten minutes, the sides were square for the fourth time. 

The mercury was really spiking now and a diagonal sideline from Gilmore brilliantly telegraphed McGee Cronolly's intelligent spin and run and, from the resulting catch, the big full-forward clipped Setanta back in front. 

O’Brien again drew Eunan’s level before McGee Cronolly really stepped up to the plate. O’Brien looked to chop into that three-point deficit into added time but Ruairi Campbell responded. 

And with McGee Cronolly hammering a decisive nail with his second green flag, Setanta are Donegal SHC winners for the 19th time. 

St Eunan’s scorers: Cathal O’Brien 0-7,7f; Brian MacIntyre 0-2; Kevin Kealy, Cian Randles and Peter Kelly 0-1 each. 

Setanta scorers: Geard Gilmore 0-9, 7f; Josh McGee Cronolly 2-1; Sean Ward and Ruairi Campbell 0-1 each. 

St Eunan’s: Cian Hennesy, Seán Halvey, Cormac Finn, Lorcan Heavey, Ryan Hilferty, Kieran Larkin, Conor Parke, Brian MacIntyre, Conor O’Grady, Kevin Kealy, Cathal O’Brien, Peter Kelly, Fearghal Delaney, Cian Randles, Russell Forde.

Sub: Sean McVeigh for Randles (44), John Kealy for Forde (46), Matt Ahern for Delaney (58).

Setanta: Kevin Campbell, Ruairí McLaughlin, Steven McBride, Mark Callaghan, Dean Harvey, Bernard Lafferty, Declan Coulter, Gerard Gilmore, Conor McGettigan, Danny Cullen, Jonny Carlin, Ryan Coyle, Sean Ward, Josh McGee Cronolly, Ruairí Campbell.

Subs: Jason Patton for R McLaughlin (39), Oisin Marely for Ward (47), Niall Cleary for B Lafferty (54).

Referee: Aidan McAleer (Naomh Padraig, Uisce Chaoin).