Early goals pave the way for St Eunan's victory in Kilcar

Early goals from Kieran Tobin and Padraig McGettigan paved the way for St Eunan’s to win their second outing in the All-County Football League Division 1, at Kilcar.

Following on from their 1-15 to 0-11 victory over Gaoth Dobhair on the opening weekend, Barry Meehan’s team got themselves six points ahead by the break and managed to push that advantage out to nine by the end.

On their first outing as a joint-management team in Towney, Mark Sweeney and Paul Devlin were hoping to bounce back following their 3-14 to 0-10 loss at Four Masters.

However, those two early goals proved to be massive factors in St Eunan’s success. The first came when Tobin rounded off a good move with McGettigan playing his part with a one-two on 12 minutes.

Then, just two minutes later, McGettigan jumped high to get both hands on a raking ball in from Conor O’Donnell Jnr, which gave the visitors an advantage of 2-1 to 0-1.

Although the sun was out, there was a chill in the air with a crossfield wind blowing towards the bay. And it was Kilcar who found it most difficult, kicking eight first-half wides to St Eunan’s one.

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Ciaran McGinley drove the hosts as best he could with a fine score, although they managed just three first-half points in all, with Seanie Boyle also posting two frees. St Eunan’s, who saw Anthony Gallagher black-carded on 18 minutes and then Tobin just before the break, got points from Pauric Boyle, Oran Winston and Eoin McGeehin himself.

The second half was more a tit-for-tat on the scoreboard with the Letterkenny team keeping things at arm’s length, looking strong at the back in the process.

With 45 minutes on the clock, it was 2-7 to 0-5, with McGettigan and Winston adding to their first-half scores, while O’Donnell’s free was the only two-pointer of the game. McGinley and Mark McHugh scored in the third quarter for Kilcar.

Jack Hegarty, McGinley and Gary Molloy would score late on for the home side, who saw Pauric McShane given 10 minutes in the sin-bin. St Eunan’s saw it out with McGettigan, Eoin Dowling, McGeehin and Noel O’Donnell all pointing.

Kilcar scorers: Ciaran McGinley 0-3; Seanie Boyle 0-2, 2f; Mark McHugh, Jack Hegarty and Gary Molloy 0-1.
St Eunan’s scorers: Padraig McGettigan 1-2, 2f Kieran Tobin 1-1; Conor O’Donnell Jnr 0-2, 2ptf; Oran Winston and Eoin McGeehin 0-2; Pauric Boyle 0-1, 1f; Noel O’Donnell 0-1.

Kilcar: Pauric Love; Eoin Love, Eoin McCormack, Pauric Carr; Daniel Lyons, Ryan McShane, Ryan O’Donnell; Ciaran McGinley, Paddy McShane; Conor Doherty, Jack Hegarty, Conor O’Donnell; Seanie Boyle, Evan Kavanagh, Gary Molloy. Subs: Mark McHugh for O’Donnell (21), Pauric McShane for Paddy McShane, Ciaran Love for Lyons (46), Karl Lyons for E Love (58)

St Eunan’s: Conor Harley; Noah Barrett, Aaron Deeney, Kieran Tobin; Peter Devine, James Kelly, Anthony Gallagher; Eoin Dowlings, Oisin Scanlon; Philip Doherty, Eoon McGeehin, Oran Winston; Conor O’Donnell Jnr, Pauric Boyle, Padraig McGettigan. Subs: Luke McGuinness for Doherty (47), Senan Martin for Boyle (51), Sean Ryan for Tobin (55), Noel O’Donnell for Gallagher (57), Sam Harvey for O’Donnell Jnr (58)
Referee: Cathal Boland (Ardara)