Barry Meehan hails team's sacrifice as St Eunan's write more of their own history

As is often the case, St Eunan’s manager Barry Meehan’s post-match analysis was to the point, following his side’s 1-13 to 1-10 Donegal SFC win over Dungloe on Sunday. 

It may take a few days before the St Eunan’s boss falls into a reflective mood on what his team has just done in capturing their 16th Donegal senior football championship, but as he stood in the centre of MacCumhaill Park following the final whistle, it was hard for the Letterkenny native not to reminisce on what has been a checkered journey with these players. 

“I’ve coached a lot of these lads since they were young fellas,” Meehan said.  

“In fact, I started out with Eamonn Doherty back in 2001 with an U-12 team, and since then I’ve probably coached all of these boys at one stage or another, so to see them get over the line again is just fantastic. 

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“I know the work they put it and the sacrifices they make and they deserve every bit of credit for the resilience they showed in never giving up, especially after that penalty call, for them to come back and tag on three scores . . . it’s brilliant, I’m just so delighted.” 

Despite carrying the heavy favourite tags, St Eunan’s were largely troubled in the first half due to a gallant and physical effort from Dungloe appearing in their first final as a club since 1964, unsure of when they will be back next. 

And while they brought the game level as they day darkened and the match crawled into injury time, the Letterkenny men refused to bend with three late points proving the worth of a great team. 

Meehan acknowledges that the pressure to perform in Eunan’s is always there and something his team have to live with. 

For Dungloe, they can travel back west with the knowledge that they left nothing behind. They were simply beaten by a better team. 

Some team has to lose . . . it’s a law as inviolable as gravity. 

“I don’t think there was pressure on us being favourites,” Meehan said. “In St Eunan’s there’s an expectation, even at underage, that we should be winning championships.  

“Maybe we haven’t done that in the last while but that’s not the be-all and end-all even though we’re expected to be there and thereabouts. 

“The boys today really focused on their performance and that’s all we can ask of them. We weren’t chatting about winning championships, we were chatting about performances and delivering every time we go out on to the field. 

“We weren’t good enough against Gaoth Dobhair but we changed that today even though Dungloe caused us an awful lot of bother when they came at us. Maybe at times we were shacky on the ball but we got to grips of a few things at halftime, and then in the second half, we came out and went at them with the handbrake off. 

“It was a good game of football today, it was end to end, and you need a bit of luck along the way, we got that with the goal but we always encourage the boys to take on the shot and look for scores, and we did that today.” 

With St Eunan’s three points to the good and with the Dr Maguire Cup almost wrapped in the black and amber of the Letterkenny colours, Dungloe were back in the match with referee Ryan Walsh pointing to the penalty spot after he saw an infringement off-the-ball between Oran Winston and Shaun McGee, leaving the majority of the people in the ground flabbergasted. 

“I thought the penalty decision was absolutely ludicrous and there’s no point sugarcoating over it,” Meehan said. “It was an outrageous call and when he pointed to the spot, I just thought, ‘here we go again’. 

“After 2022 and what happened there, I thought it was ridiculous. I’ve spoken to Oran since and he said he put his hand on the player’s stomach, and where he got a penalty out of that, it’s just a ludicrous call.” 

Meehan goes further stating that it’s not the first time he’s seen bizarre decisions in the championship, with the manager calling for the need for better officiating.  

“We need better officiating in the county. It happened earlier in the year and we kept our mouths shut that night, but earlier in this championship, we had two men's eyes gauged and it wasn’t looked after, and it’s no good saying sorry after it happens,” he explained. 

“I feel the only time you can bring these points up is when you win because if we lost today and we brought it up, we’d be called sore losers.  

“Nobody in this ground can understand where that call came from today and something has to change because that ludicrous decision could’ve affected the result today.” 

But Meehan was not willing to let certain calls disrupt his team’s celebrations, with the St Eunan’s man aiming to focus on the overall result and what he refers to an extraordinary season. 

“I think away from that, our boys dug deep and came back and that’s the biggest thing for us,” he said. 

“Our lads got a lot of knocks last year and the year before, so for them to come back this year and make sacrifices off the field is huge.” 

They’ve learned from the hardship of the past. These St Eunan's men are wiser now.