'Everyone saw in the second half what we can do as a team' - Brendan Devenney

St Eunan’s coach Brendan Devenney did not sugarcoat how frustrated he was with the performance levels from his side in the first half of last Sunday’s Donegal DFC final against Dungloe in MacCumhaill Park. 

It was something that stayed with him, even after the final whistle had gone to declare St Eunan’s the county champions for the first time since 2021 after beating the Rosses club 1-13 to 1-10, in the first county final in 60 years. 

The former Donegal star acknowledges that there was that consistent worrying niggle that things weren’t going to fall his side’s way, but praised the players for having the determination to come back in the second period of the game, pick themselves up and a controversial penalty was awarded against them, and see the game out for the win. 

“It’s a great day, I came back for days like this, probably not for what we produced in the first half because that performance would send you off your head it was just so poor for the first 30 minutes,” Devenney said after the match.  

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“It’s happened a few times this season where the performance levels have dropped significantly. Now with that, I take nothing away from Dungloe, they played well, but we left ourselves far too exposed in the first half and it showed, it was 0-4 each at halftime and Dungloe had 14 shots, on another day they hit them over and it’s a different game. 

“We weren’t happy at halftime, but thankfully we played the better football in the second half, and everyone saw glimpses of what we’re good at.” 

Conor O’Donnell Jr’s 36th-minute goal spread the gap and put St Eunan’s into the lead, after chasing Dungloe for much of the game, when a Niall O’Donnell shot bounced off the post and fell to Pauric Boyle, who in turn placed it to O’Donnell Jr to fire home. 

That proved to be the confidence booster the men from Letterkenny needed, and while they looked well in control from that moment on, a controversial penalty awarded to Dungloe on the 60th minute brought the game back level and was something the St Eunan’s management and players were not letting go of, even after all within the match was deemed irrelevant following their victory. 

“I don’t know what that penalty was about to be honest,” Devenney said. “I feel St Eunan’s have been on the wrong side of these calls far too often.  

“There’s been a couple of games where I felt that we’re being screwed. It happened today when we were three points up and there’s a penalty given for something nobody has ever seen. 

“I’m not saying it wasn’t a penalty, I’ll have to have a look, but I feel these unfortunate calls seem to be happening to us a lot more than other teams. 

“But the boys steadied the ship and hit the last few scores and I’m really proud of them for that.” 

On a whole Devenney credits the leadership in the forward line from the two O’Donnell brothers in the second half for taking the game by the scruff of the neck when it was needed. 

“I have to give credit to boys like Niall O’Donnell who came into the game when we needed him in the second half, someone who has been nursing a foot injury for a while,” he said. 

“Shane O’Donnell too, he made a lot of powerful breaks going forward and opened up the attack for other players to get into space and have a shot. 

“I felt in the first half we were a bit tentative on the ball and we were allowing Dungloe to get to us. We weren’t moving the ball quick enough so we were disappointed about that, but I think in the second half, we deserved to be three points up and it came down to us having a bit of bottle to see the game out.” 

“It’s another title for us which is great, we’re also top of the record books and we’re proud to have that. In the last five county finals I’ve been involved in as a player or a coach I’ve ended up winning which is massive because finals can take on another life as we know. 

“Maybe now I can ride off into the sunset.”