St Eunan's just do enough against dogged Bundoran

St Eunan’s kept their winning run going with a three-point victory over Bundoran at Gaelic Park on Friday.

Realt na Mara 2-4 St Eunan’s 1-10

The visitors will be glad of the two points to go five from five but were wasteful on too many occasions as the wide count added up throughout the game.

A young Bundoran side will take some satisfaction out of another gutsy performance even though it yielded no points for them on the league table. St Eunan’s got off to the perfect start when a turnover after just 90 seconds saw a long ball find Eoin McGeehin, who finished excellently to the Bundoran net.

A monster free from Ryan Barrett registered the home side’s first score and this was quickly added to by Cian McEniff also from a placed ball.St Eunan’s dominated possession but found the Bundoran rearguard hard to penetrate with Shane Mc Gowan rolling back the years marshalling the home defence.

Full-forward Pauric McGettigan eventually got the scoreboard ticking, hitting three points on the bounce in a five-minute spell, two from play and one from a free. A great run and an even better finish from Peter Devine put the men from the Cathedral town five to the good on 25 minutes. Another Cian McEniff free stemmed the flow before a Conor O'Donnell jnr free ended the first half scoring, st at the break it was Realt na Mara 0-3 St Eunan’s 1-5.

The second half followed a very similar pattern to the first with the visitors dominating possession and two quickfire points from the boot of the lively Conor O'Donnell jnr had seven points between the sides after 37 minutes.

But just as it looked like the Seasiders might fade away a dangerous lofted ball from Peter McGonigle was misjudged by the St Eunans defence and it nestled into the roof of the net. This score gave the home side renewed belief and the tempo of the game certainly moved up a notch. Another McGettigan free put five between the sides.

Then on 52 minutes a long ball bounced in front of the St Eunan’s goal and goalkeeper Eoin O Boyle advanced before a collision occurred between him and Bundoran's Timmy Govorov. Referee Stephen Doherty awarded a penalty to Bundoran much to the annoyance of the visitors. Govorov picked himself up off the ground and expertly dispatched the spot kick to the net.

St Eunan’s, although now only leading by just two points. didn;t panic and corner-back Noel O Donnell showed his misfiring forwards the way, splitting the posts on 55. Bundoran kept up the fight and McEniff pointed again from a free after Govorov was upended.

In a frantic finish both sides had chances with Matthew McCabe clearing brilliantly off the hosts’ goal line in injury time but it was Sean McVeigh who would stroke over the final score for the visiting team to give St Eunans victory.

Credit also to referee Stephen Doherty who was very consistent throughout in letting the game flow with minimal use of the whistle.

Realt na Mara scorers: Cian McEniff 0-3, 3f; Peter McGonigle 1-0; Timmy Govorov 1-0, pen; Ryan Barrett 0-1, 1f.
St Eunan’s scorers: Pauric McGettigan 0-4, 2f; Eoin McGeehin 1-0; Conor O’Donnell jnor 0-3, 2f; Peter Devine, Noel O’Donnell, Sean McVeigh 0-1.

Realt na Mara: Conor Carty; Kieran Doherty, Matthew Duffy, Peter McGonigle; Timmy Govorov, Ryan Barrett 0-1, Shane Moohan; Ciaran McCaughey, Cian McEniff; Kyle McNulty, Anton Govorov, Matthew McCabe; Shane Mc Gowan, Cody Granaghan, Ryan Blanc.
St Eunan’s: Eoin Boyle; Noel O Donnell, Conor Parke, Aaron Deeney; Peter Devine, Conor O’Donnell snr, Cormac Finn; Sean McGettigan, Jordan O'Dowd; Ciaran Moore, Conor O’Donnell jnr, Sean McVeigh; David Boyle, Pauric McGettigan, Eoin McGeehin. Subs Sean Ryan for O’Donnell snr (42); Eamonn Doherty for O’Dowd (44); Ronan McGeehin for Boyle (49); Dylan Duggan for Finn (55) Noah Barrett for R McGeehin (56).
Referee: Stephen Doherty (Red Hughs).