Meehan glad St Eunan's got over the line but stresses the need for improvement

St Eunan’s manager Barry Meehan says an improvement is needed if his side wants to harbour any hopes of winning the Donegal SFC.

His team saw off Gaoth Dobhair by a bare minimum, 0-8 to 0-7, to seal their passage to the showpiece, with Dungloe joining them following their victory over St Michael’s on Sunday afternoon.

Speaking before the second of the semi-finals, Meehan said his bench had already spoken about the probability of extra-time, as Gaoth Dobhair dragged them back into the contest and had chances to at least force an additional 20 minutes of play.

Shaun Patton made a vital late save from Cathal Gillespie, there was a touch of uncertainty over whether Eoin Dowling’s free that eventually proved to be was over - although television replays suggested it was - and Daire Ó Baoill was out of luck with a tricky late free to level.

“A win is a win,” Meehan said. “Strange feeling there at the end. Almost felt like a loss, with the way the second half went. We’d get a couple of scores ahead and then lack of concentration. Gaoth Dobhair kept bouncing back.

“We couldn’t put them to bed and that was down to their work-rate and to our mistakes. At the end, we were lucky we weren’t going to extra-time and had we, they were the side with the momentum.

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“Even before that, they had a goal chance and had that gone in, we’d be talking about something totally different. Gaoth Dobhair were very good defensively, we found it hard to break down and then they got in for a goal chance. It was a fantastic save from Shaun and it was so important. We got a bit of luck and we’re in the final. We’ll need a massive improvement if we’re looking to win a championship.”

St Eunan’s had been talked up in many circles having pipped three-in-a-row chasing Naomh Conaill 0-10 to 0-9 seven days beforehand, although Meehan stressed that the game was put to bed afterwards. That night, the Letterkenny side produced some of their best football of the season to lead by four points at the break, only to fall behind in the second half before Eoin McGeehin’s later winner.

"We met up last Sunday and we parked Naomh Conaill,” Meehan said. “We parked it and it was over. It would’ve been the same had we lost. We prepared for Gaoth Dobhair just as we prepared for Naomh Conaill, for Ardara, for Downings and for every other game. We were conscious as there was a lot of backslapping after beating Naomh Conaill but we knew we would be just an hour away from a kick up the backside. We have a lot of work to do.

“We set high standards for ourselves and that performance is not where we need to be. Lots of mistakes, and decision-making wasn’t good at the end. But we got over the line. We heard things like ‘it’s yours to lose’ and things like that. It’s not. Whoever wins it, wins it. We need to be on our game come the final.

"We need to keep the head down and we need to work, very very hard. We need to make a lot of improvements. We put in a great first half against Naomh Conaill and have not reached that level since. We want to reach that and more and for 60 minutes."