St Eunan's will need to dig as deep as ever against Castleblayney - Paddy Flood

For the second year in a row, a Donegal side will contest the Ulster JHC final with St Eunan’s set to tangle with Monaghan’s Castleblayney at the weekend in Dungannon.

Last term, Setanta beat Shane Ui Neill of Antrim by 1-22 to 0-15 and now the Letterkenny men are one step away from emulating that feat.

Last weekend, they saw off Swatragh, 5-4, in an enthralling penalty shootout after the sides finished level, 0-21 each, after an 80-minute thriller.

St Eunan’s manager Paddy Flood insisted that Saturday’s victory is right up there with their emotional win over Setanta, to take the Donegal county title, back in 2021.

However, Flood knows his side faces an enormous challenge as they take on a fancied Castleblayney in Eoghan Ruadh Park on Sunday.

The Farney men beat Cootehill Celtic by 2-19 to 1-5 in their semi-final win and have the bulk of the Monaghan senior team in their ranks.

Flood explains: “They have been the backbone of the Monaghan team and had won several county titles. So what we are facing on Sunday is almost a full county team.

“No more than the Swatragh game, we will not be favourites as they have a lot of experience. Leo Moloney is a young lad who can win ball and gets scores and has a commanding presence.

“They also have Thomas Hughes and Niall Garland, who has been on this year’s All-Stars selection from the Ring, Rackard and Meagher team, along with Donegal pair Luke White and Danny Cullen.

“Fergal Rafter has also been outstanding over the years while Mark and Peter Treanor are formidable figures as well.

“Castleblayney are a physical team as well, bigger than Swatragh and they can play it any way you want.”

And Flood was particularly impressed with the clever way they used the ball against Cootehill.

“As a club team, they have been in the Ulster Intermediate grade for a number of years and they are very smart in using the quick ball and varying their play.

“They were unlucky not to win it once or twice in recent times so that is what we are up against.

“They were also in the All-Ireland junior final in 2019 and gave Dunamaggin of Kilkenny a great game before losing by 1-17 to 1-13 after leading for quite some time. That is the level they are at.”

But Flood feels that Eunan’s too are formidable at this level. And their win over Swatragh, albeit on penalties, will have been a real confidence-booster.

“We have to bring our game and not worry about Castleblayney,” he said. “If we bring our strengths to it, we feel we can be very competitive and it could be a very close game.

“We do have great spirit and even when we are not in games, we are able to hang on, which is a good trait as we win balls when we need it and then land frees.

“The one thing you can always get right in a game is your work rate and our work rate has been first class this year”.

Talismanic team captain Sean McVeigh was inspirational in last Saturday’s victory, hitting a superb opening point from the sideline in a total haul of 0-3 and was right in the heart of the action all through the match.

This dual star demolishes the popular myth that you can’t play football and hurling to a high standard in Donegal.

And the man with strong Ballycastle Antrim connections has been doing this for well over a decade.

On Saturday he led by example and he is a happy man to be guiding his team into an Ulster final on Sunday.

“Penalties are not the way to win a game and you feel for Swatragh but we are just delighted,” said McVeigh ahead of the weekend’s provincial decider.

“We started off pretty well and for the first fifteen minutes we did not waste too much. Even when they came back into the game, we were still able to tag on a few scores and we were four up at the break.

“The bit we were disappointed with was the third quarter when we struggled to get on the ball.

“But what I’m unbelievably proud of is the way we kept digging in when things were not going for us in the second half. But we found a way to get the scores when we needed them.”

New boy Cathal O’Brien has been a revelation for Eunan’s and he showed real bottle in landing some great long-range points, hitting the winning ‘sudden death’ penalty to ensure a memorable victory.

“Cathal is a native of Offaly and has been a real find. He really stood up last Saturday with his frees and that winning penalty. But we will need it all on Sunday against a very good Castleblayney side.”