Martin McElhinney hopes St Michael’s have turned a corner

St Michael’s - after a rocky start to their All-County League Division 1 campaign - are finally up and running with two wins from their last two outings.

After Saturday evening’s 1-8 to 0-8 win over Glenfin at the Bridge and following their 2-13 to 1-15 victory over Killybegs, in Fintra the previous weekend; St Michaels are now on four points and sitting mid-table in the standings.

Prior to that win against the Fishermen, St Michael’s had lost at home to Gaoth Dobhair and Sean MacCumhaills and had failed to field against St Eunan’s away.

“Glenfin was a massive result after getting two points away against Killybegs the week before,” said the 2012 All-Ireland winner.

“It was good to get an away win but in this division you simply have to be winning your home games. It is something we have always focused on.

“We’ve always been hard to beat down here but last year it went away from us and we did not pick up many home points.”

The versatile McElhinney is now one of the most senior players in the team and he believes that recent dip in form on their own patch was the reason they let Glenfin get off to a flying start.

Glenfin had played with the aid of a strong wind, kicking the game’s opening four points and led 0-4 to 0-0 after a quarter of an hour.

St Michael’s scored their first point 17 minutes with new signing Packie O’Neill breaking the deadlock with a fine strike.

“We were a bit edgy at the start of the game because of our poor home record of late. We were panicking and forcing things but we settled down then and kicked a couple of points and then Packie also scored the goal.

It was an important score, it levelled the game and we added a couple of points and we were two up at half-time”.

St Michael’s were in a good position at the break as they led 1-5 to 0-6 knowing they were going to have the elements in their favour in the second period.

“We didn’t kick on with the wind in the second half and we only scored one point from play, which is not good enough. Normally playing with the wind into those goals (Dunfanaghy end) we would have an advantage.

“But we just seemed to panic and revert back to taking snapshots where in the first half when we settled we were more patient. We should have kicked a few more points in the second half but Glenfin are a good side.

“They are very young and are struggling for points at the minute but they have played all the big teams. They will pick up points as the season progresses.

“The important thing is that we won and have another two points on the board. Hopefully it is the start of winning our home games again.

“Division 1 is a very competitive division. There are two or three top teams and then you have nine or ten sides maybe a level below that. And all those teams are capable of beating each other.

“We are away to Aodh Ruadh next and they had a good win last weekend over Gaoth Dobhair so they are going to be tough opposition.

“The important thing is we have four points on the board and we have got back to winning at home again. Hopefully now we can build on it and continue to be hard to beat down here. If we do that, we should be okay.”