St Eunan’s 2021 was a year to remember - and they hope to write one more chapter

GAA historical records are, it’s fair to say, a little haphazard, so it’s difficult to know for certain whether St Eunan’s achievements of 2021 are entirely unique, so let’s start with the present.

This Sunday in Burt, St Eunan’s, contest the rearranged 2021 Donegal U-21 Hurling final against Setanta. St Eunan’s are in search of a sixth adult championship of, technically, 2021.

The St Eunan's Ladies who won the LGFA Intermediate Championship

There have already been black and amber cavalcades in Letterkenny for their IFC-winning Ladies, while the men’s Senior and Senior Reserve footballers, the Senior hurlers and the under-21 footballers have taken trophies home. Kevin Blake, owner of the club’s unofficial watering hole Blakes’ Bar, which doubles as a club museum, has been ordering prints and frames.

Dual player Cormac Finn is the only player part of all of the men’s senior panels and the NUI Maynooth student could win a fifth adult championship of 2021.

St Eunan's won a first Donegal SFC in seven years in November when they defeated Naomh Conaill

Letterkenny is the biggest of Donegal’s towns, with its urban population in the 2016 Census 19,274, three times that of second placed Buncrana. Before 2021, St Eunan’s standout year at adult level was 1972 - the double of senior football and hurling.

By the late 1970s, hurling in Letterkenny was extinct. In football, the powerholds were all south of Barnesmore. From 1973 and 1998 there are only two northern winners on the roll of honour - MacCumhaill’s in 1977 and St Eunan’s six years later.

Goalkeeper Eoin O’Boyle captained the U21A and senior reserves’ footballers, while Conor O’Grady skippered the senior hurlers to a first title since 1972, Peter McEniff is pictured with the Dr Maguire on behalf of the senior footballers and Kaneshia McKinney lifted the trophy as the ladies won the Donegal IFC crown.

Even now, 1997 is divisive. St Eunan’s 1-14 to 2-9 victory over Aodh Ruadh was followed by defeat following the boardroom, having been deemed to have fielded an illegal player - Leslie McGettigan from Letterkenny - who had lined out in New York. The silver jubilee should provide Donegal’s GAA hierarchy with a headache this year.

But 1997 marks the sea change, the fruition of the mid-1980s street leagues in Letterkenny. St Eunan’s were county champions seven times since, also losing five finals. Their academy is booming.

St Eunan’s will always be there or thereabouts, especially in football - but hurling? Ahead of the October final against Setanta, one local sports writer was asked by an odds-maker would “5/1 or 6/1 be fair odds?” The reply was “it doesn't really matter.”

St Eunan's senior hurlers caused a massive upset to defeat Setanta in October

A Russell Forde goal provided a start and St Eunan’s - managed by Clare native Eugene Organ - grabbed a second from Kevin Kealy for 2-8 to 0-8. Setanta, who had beaten St Eunan’s in three of the previous four finals with a bit to spare, came back to 2-9 to 0-14. In a nail-biting finish, St Eunan’s clung on for a famous, almost incomprehensible victory.

“The hurlers really set things going,” said club chairman John Haran. “The town really got behind them and that didn’t always happen down the years. It was a fantastic victory.”

St Eunan's team manager Eugene Organ celebrates with his children Lauren, Conor and Rachel following the Donegal SHC final

Two weeks later, with Kealy and county hurler Sean McVeigh also named for the footballers, they too were final underdogs. Naomh Conaill were unbeaten in 26 matches since losing the 2019 Ulster Club SFC to Kilcoo.

Naomh Conaill had blown away protagonists Kilcar and Gaoth Dobhair, while Rory Kavangh’s St Eunan’s stumbled through. There, though, St Eunan’s were comprehensive winners, with their possession-based style, minimalizing contact whenever they could, sealing a 1-11 to 0-4 triumph.

“What an effort by so many people in the club over so many years to get so many teams to this level and it is just fantastic,” McVeigh beamed afterwards.

St Eunan's were comfortable winners of the Senior B championship

Now, St Eunan’s can look to the future, with a three-in-row U21 success in football, the ladies on the up and hurlers in towards trophies.

“There’s a lot of work put in and a lot of work being put in,” Haran added. “The town has really embraced the club and the numbers at the academy on a Sunday morning are huge - girls, boys, football, hurling and camogie and it’s great to see. We hope to add to that on Sunday”.