Mac’s View: Naomh Conaill will know a big improvement is needed

I may be suffering with sciatica but I must have jumped two feet off the couch on Sunday when Naomh Conaill grabbed a late winning goal against Gowna in the Ulster club championship.

I was listening to the game on the radio and it was a really dramatic finish to the game. Honestly, I thought the game was gone when the Cavan champions went two up with time almost up.

But seeing the footage of the goal later on, Kevin McGettigan did so well to find the gap in the Gowna goalmouth because their entire team was back defending the net.

I don’t know how he did it but it was nothing short of miraculous. It was a great win for Glenties men.

Kevin will receive all the plaudits, and rightly so. But great credit must go to Anthony Thompson who went short with the free and took the return instead of dropping it straight into the goalmouth.

I suspect most players faced with the same situation would have just lobbed it in and hoped for the best.

But by going short and taking the return before he dropped it in, he created the movement in the Gowna defence that probably made the space for Kevin McGettigan to hit the back of the net.

Someone said to me on Monday what Anthony did came from experience. It may be so, but I think there was more to it. I believe it was the action of a seriously smart footballer. It was high drama but it was also a smash grab.

The Gowna players must be sick because it looked like they had done the business and were heading for an Ulster semi-final.

Because while Naomh Conaill started well and were marginally the better side in the first-half, the Cavan champions were definitely the best team in the second.

They came from four down at half-time to go two up. That is a six-point turnaround without scoring a goal, which is massive this time of the year.

Glenties were disappointing in the second-half and did not raise a gallop after being in a great place at the break.

They now face Watty Grahams from Derry, the reigning Ulster champions and beaten All-Ireland finalists from last term, in the last four.

They are certainly going to have to up their game for Malachy O’Rourke’s men though going by reports, the Derry champions were not overly impressive themselves against Cargin, from Antrim, in their quarter-final last week.

The big result of the weekend in the Ulster championship was Scotstown’s win over Kilcoo.

Rory Beggan converted a last-gasp point from a free to win the game after Kieran Hughes, from a mark seconds earlier, levelled the game.

It was a disappointing result for Karl Lacey, the Kilcoo manager, who I’m sure had his sights set on Ulster and probably beyond.

Trillick, without Mattie Donnelly, were still far too good for Crossmaglen, in the first of the quarter-finals played in Omagh on Saturday night.

Richie Donnelly, Mattie’s brother, had a big game in the middle of the field for Trillick and they have some lively forwards. They look a decent side. But I thought Crossmaglen were poor and a pale shadow of teams of the past.

Trillick will now play Scotstown in the other semi. Glen are probably the team to beat. But Naomh Conaill, Trillick and Scotstown will have other ideas. We’ll talk more about the semi-finals next week.

Disappointed

I was very disappointed for Downings. They were well beaten by Ballyhaise, from Cavan, in the Intermediate championship quarter-final.

That game was the curtain-raiser in Breffni Park, on Sunday. They conceded a couple of early goals and were on the back foot from early on.

We in Bundoran know all about goals and the difference they can make. Like Downings, we conceded four against Loughisland, in the final, back in 2015.

In a strange game, we came back from conceding an early goal to go in level at half-time, 0-4 to 1-1.

We led 0-5 to 1-1 with just over ten minutes left on the clock. But we conceded two more goals in the closing minutes to lose on one of the most bizarre scorelines I’ve ever seen. Loughinisland only scored one point in their 4-1 to 0-7 win.

Hurling

Good luck this weekend to both Setanta and St Eunan’s hurlers in their respective Ulster clashes as well as the Dungloe ladies who are bidding to land their own piece of provincial silverware. Hopefully, we will be celebrating next week.

Brian McEniff was in conversation with Tom Comack.