Sweeney’s late free seals Termon victory over St Eunan’s in U-21 championship opener

A final free from John-James Sweeney just about fell over the bar in the final minute to give Termon the victory over St Eunan’s in the opening round of the Donegal U-21 championship in O’Donnell Park. 

With the effect of Strom Ashley playing a significant role, scores were very hard to come by, with the men from the Burn Road leading 2-0 to 0-1 point at the break. 

But Eunan’s failed to lie down and brought the game back level, before hitting the lead with five minutes to go, but the Cathedral men just couldn’t see the game out, allowing Termon to hit back Oisin Harkin levelling the game with three minutes of normal time remaining before Sweeney tapped over a final free close in to see his side out for what was a deserving win. 

Despite being against the wind in the first half, Termon built up a nice lead, with Eunan’s only kicking four shots inside 30 minutes. 

The game remained scoreless until the 11th minute when St Eunan’s forward Philip Doherty opened with an impressive long-range point. 

Termon quickly responded, with Cormac Gallagher collecting the ball deep in his own half and surging forward. Without a hand being put on him, Gallagher fired a powerful shot into the back of the net for the game’s opening goal. 

Just three minutes later, Termon nearly struck again, but Callum Crampsie made a brilliant stop to deny Oran Gallagher. 

However, Termon's persistence paid off in the 19th minute. Oran Gallagher capitalised on a defensive mistake, setting up Gary McGettigan to calmly slot in their second goal, pushing the visitors ahead 2-00 to 0-01 which is how the score remained at the half-time break. 

Despite St Eunan’s trailing, they knew they had a lot of work to do with the Letterkenny men playing against the win in the second half, but they started to find their rhythm when Jack Gallagher and David Boyle narrowed the gap by hitting back-to-back scores to cut the lead to three. 

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But Gary McGettigan struck back moments later to keep some daylight between the teams. 

With 20 minutes left, the Letterkenny side eventually found their purple patch, with Gallagher causing problems when in possession.  

The goal eventually came when the persistent Eunan’s pressure resulted in a Termon turnover, leaving Gallagher to raise a green flag for his side, before levelling the match with a point a minute later after winning possession from a Termon kickout. 

Evan Keown and Luke McGarvey traded points with Doherty from St Eunan’s to keep Termon in front as the game entered the final 10 minutes, but David Boyle pushed St Eunan's ahead for the first time since the 11th minute. 

But Termon refused to surrender with Harkin and Sweeney hitting the final points to give Termon an exciting win on a 2-5 to 1-7 scoreline. 

St Eunan’s scorers: Jack Gallagher 1-2; David Boyle 0-3, 2fs; Philip Doherty 0-2.  
Termon scorers: Gary McGettigan 1-1; Cormac Gallagher 1-0; Oisin Harkin and John-James Sweeney 0-1, 1f each; Evan Keown and Luke McGarvey 0-1 each. 

St Eunan’s: Callum Crampsie; David Horgan, Sean Freeburn, James Gallagher; Noah Barrett, Gavin McCarron, Thomas O’Donnell; Oisin Scanlon, Luke McGuinness; Brian Drum, Thomas Roche, Philip Doherty; Jack Gallagher, David Boyle, John Kealy. Subs: Ryan Bradley for Kealy (38); Harry Blake for Jack Gallagher (40); Eoghan Farren for McCarron (44); Sean Martin for Roche (51); Lorcan Harvey for O’Donnell (60). 

Termon: Thomas Cannon; Eoin Gallagher, Emmett McGettigan, Jack O’Neill; Eoghan Quinn, Cormac Gallagher, Cormac Brady; Kevin McGettigan, John James Sweeney, Evan Keown, Oisin Harkin, Gary McGettigan, Oran Gallagher, Ciaran Cassidy, Patrick Fegan. Subs: Cormac Cassidy for O’Neill (43); Luke McGarvey for Oran Gallagher (49); Patrick McDaid for Quinn (55); Owen Browne for Gallagher (59).  

Referee: Pat Barrett (Milford).