'Our aim was to get Evan his county medal, and we did that today' - Dermot Keaveney 

Naomh Padraig, Uisce Chaoin’s captain Dermot Keaveney took a few moments to catch his breath before reflecting in the centre of the pitch at O’Donnell Park what his team just achieved. 

It didn’t take long for the Naomh Padraig supporters to invade the field following the final whistle that saw Keaveney’s side claim a 2-12 to 0-8 win as they clinched the Donegal JFC title for the first time in the club’s history. 

“It’s absolutely amazing, this day was long coming for us in this club,” Keaveney said. “I know personally, I was here in 2010 and 2016 where we suffered heartache both times, so I know how hard it is for Carndonagh to be standing there and look at us but nothing was going to stop us today. 

Having previously been on the losing side in junior finals on two occasions, the Naomh Padraig skipper acknowledged the emotional rollercoaster his side has taken this season as he honoured the life of Naomh Padraig player Evan Craig who passed away a number of weeks back. 

“This was our third time lucky in winning this final. Everyone knows that we had some tragic news in our club a couple of weeks ago and since then, our target has been to get Evan Craig his county medal, that was our aim and we did it, so those boys can be proud of themselves and we can’t wait to take that cup home.” 

READ MORE: Peter Blake leads St Mary's Convoy to Donegal Junior B title against Carndonagh

The death of the Naomh Padraig player was remembered during Saturday’s final as the number 13 was held during the front of the march before the match in his memory, with Keaveney also adding that his passing led to unity in the club with the player’s jersey hung in the dressing room before every game. 

“We’ve used the difficult time over the last few weeks as motivation to unite us together. Evan’s number has been hanging in our dressing room every game, the number 13 jersey, and before we go out to play, every player touches that jersey,” he said. 

“We all have the bands on today too that read ‘13 EV’, so he’s with us in our minds and in our hearts the entire game. 

“He’s been with us since the first goal in the first minute hit the back of the net, and the second goal before half-time. He was there the whole time and we’re just delighted to get a county medal home for him.” 

It was a superb team effort from Daniel McCauley’s side with two first-half goals from Kevin Lynch and Caolan McColgan leading the way for the men in blue and gold in what was their first Donegal JFC final since 2016. 

And having been the only junior side to have played Division 2 football this season, Keaveney adds that stood to his team in the long run, with the Naomh Padraig men putting up some solid results against established senior championship teams along the way in the league. 

“We knew ourselves how hard this season was going to be,” he added. “We’ve played some tough teams in Division 2 like Dungloe, Four Masters, Milford, Buncrana, Ardara, Cloughaneely, and these are all teams that we’ve put up solid performances against, a lot of whom we’ve beat. 

“And despite all those games, we still knew how hard this junior championship was going to be. Last year we thought we were good enough to get out of it but we were beaten in the semi-final on penalties, but this season, we put the hard work in from November and no way we were being beaten today. 

“Today was a massive day for us, we knew we had to take that cup home and we’re so happy we have it now. 

Like, we’re such a young team too, I’m 34 and the next oldest is 25, so we’re growing as a club all the time. At underage, we’re competing with the best out there and today it’s great to see the parish get their reward for such hard work and see the next generation coming through. 

“If we work hard, who knows where that can lead us in the future.”