St Eunan's College manager Peter Devine: ‘Getting a trophy is always important’

Peter Devine was a Corn Colmcille winner when he was a first year student in the year 2004, so was delighted to repeat the trick as St Eunan’s College manager.

Back then, the St Eunan’s defender lined up with the likes of clubmate Eamonn Doherty, Kealan McFadden from Glenswilly and St Michael’s duo Antoin McFadden and Andrew Kelly.

At the Burn Road on Wednesday, St Eunan’s won a fourth crown at the bracket - Ulster Schools U-13½B - when they overcame Loreto Milford on a 3-13 to 2-9 scoreline, having also lifted the trophy in 2010 and 2000.

In the end, St Eunan’s were winners on a 3-13 to 2-9 scoreline having raced into a 2-7 to 0-1 lead with the wind after the first period, then maintaining a healthy advantage of 3-11 to 0-7 by the end of the second of three 20-minute periods.

“Tough game surely, we knew that it would be against Milford,” Devine said. “That’s the way it turned out. We started well and got ahead. We always knew Milford would get back into it but we showed cool heads to see it out in the third quarter.

“We targeted the good start, hoping to win the toss so we could go at them. We got our rewards for that. The wind was strong and it was always going to play a part. The second period probably won the game for us. Loreto are a really good team and I’ve no doubt we’ll be seeing plenty of them in the coming years. Having two Donegal teams in an Ulster final can only be good for football in the county as a whole, which is great to see.”

Having come through the system himself, Devine is familiar with the importance of the player pathway at St Eunan’s.
“We’re delighted,” he added. “It’s our only GAA success this year and there’s a serious tradition in the school and the soccer sides have done really well. Getting a trophy is always important as it means the younger players might buy into it easily and that’s important for the following year. We’re glad to have something to show for the year. Next year we will have to push on and we’ll see if we are in the A competition, which is the goal as we take pride in competing in the MacRory Cup.”