Gavin Mulreany hoping injury-hit St Naul’s pull together for relegation play-off

One might wonder where St Naul’s would be sitting in the championship table if they had a fully fit team available this season, but a saga of injuries has been the unfortunate tale for the Mountcharles men throughout the year. 

The absence of county man Brendan McCole is perhaps their biggest loss, but topping that off with further injuries to players such as Kyle Campbell, Stuart Johnston, Barry Griffin, and Thomas White, to name a few, has resulted in the St Naul’s side sitting bottom of the championship where they now face into a relegation play-off against Glenfin. 

The 2019 Intermediate champions have failed to pick up a single point from four games, and it didn’t get much better on Sunday against Dungloe when they fell to a 2-14 to 0-6 point defeat. 

When it looked like things couldn’t get any worse for Naul’s they did, with the side’s player-manager and key forward Stephen Griffin being forced off the field midway through the second half after suffering an injury to the ribs and will more than likely return to the field of play for the rest of the year. 

With only one substitute to bring on last weekend, it further highlights the lack of firepower for the injury-stricken side. But while county goalkeeper Gavin Mulreany acknowledges it’s a big blow for the club, he’s not willing to dwell on it too much, with the 26-year-old admitting that it’s something his side will have to get on with. 

“I think for the next two weeks we have to grow up, take the results we’ve had so far on the chin and go at it, and we’ll see what happens then in the relegation play-off,” Mulreany said. 

“It’s always going to be hard (losing players) because we have a small number in the club anyway. When we have one or two injuries it’s hard to deal with but at the moment, we have six or seven players that would be starting in our first XV so it’s hard at the minute. 

“If you go through the list of players that are out injured, they are lads who have been starting over the last few years, they’re big players for us, so in that way it really is unfortunate but I would say every team in the country are suffering from injuries, we’re no different and we have to get on with it.” 

Mulreany has been one of the leading figures for his club over the last number of years, and despite playing between the sticks he once again highlighted his strength by scoring three long-ranged points on Sunday while also pulling off an astonishing one-handed save in the first half against one of Dungloe’s star men Barry Curran when the half-back attempted to fire the ball into the top corner of the net. 

With regards to playing in the senior championship relegation play-off, the county man said it’s something they’re familiar with and hopes that his team can pull together in the hope of staying in the top flight of the Donegal championship.  

“It’s not really pressure, it’s just something we have to get on with. We’ve been in the relegation play-off the last two years so we know what we have to do to get a result and hopefully that happens,” he said.