St Eunan's ease into last eight of Donegal SFC with win over Cloughaneely

Eoin McGeehin kicked eight points and Conor O’Donnell five as St Eunan’s eased their way into the quarter-finals of the Donegal SFC with a comfortable victory over Cloughaneely.

St Eunan’s 1-20
Cloughaneely 2-7

Ciaran Moore hit the hosts’ goal although  the concession of a goal late in each half from Blake McGarvey and Paul Sweeney following long balls in mightn’t have satisfied the St Eunan’s management. On the flipside, kicking 1-20 from 21 shots on goal was an impressive stat - not one wide from the black and amber.

All in all though, it means three from three for last year’s Donegal SFC winners, while Cloughaneely will be looking for something to keep them out of the complexities of the drop zone. 

Conor O’Donnell jnr scored three stylish long-range points - with the first of those coming after just 17 seconds - to set the tone and by the 10th minute Rory Kavanagh’s side had moved into a 0-5 to 0-2 lead.

McGeehin had got in on the act by then with a free and fine score cutting in, and although Cloughaneely were working off scraps of possession at that early stage, they made good use of their attacks with Shaun Curran and Paul Sweeney pointing. 

The procession towards the Town End continued with points from Brian MacIntyre, Padraig McGettigan and, on his first appearance since returning from Boston, Kieran Tobin. On 22 minutes, Moore chased what looked to be a  lost cause and his perseverance was rewarded with a goal.

Conor O’Donnell’s diagonal ball was inviting but looked the slightest bit overcooked but Moore chased it down and managed to just keep it in play by inches, worked an angle for himself and steered into the inside top corner of Shaun McClafferty’s goal.

McGeehin and Curran pointed late in the half for either side and in first half injury time Michael Lynch’s team produced a goal from a searching ball from Curran from underneath the stand, which Blake McGarvey got the punch on to steer home.

It gave the visitors a lift as they left the field at the interval, although still had a mountain to climb at  1-9 to 1-3 down. The Letterkenny side had opened their SFC with 1-14 to 0-7 win over St Naul’s and were impressive 1-21 to 1-6 victors at Bundoran and although without Darragh Mulgrew and Ronan McGeehin because of injury, were in an envious position where they could rest Niall and Conor O’Donnell Snr - although the latter got a late run.

The draw drums weren’t too easy on Cloughaneely - last year’s IFC winners - with the trip to O’Donnell Park following up a home clash against a rampant Kilcar, who were 0-19 to 0-7 victors in Falcarragh. Cloughaneely had opened with a draw at Four Masters. 

McGeehin popped over three more points to open part two - the third of which came following top-class approach play from Shane O’Donnell - for a 1-12 to 1-3 St Eunan’s advantage before Jason McGee’s crisp long-ranger opened Cloughaneely’s second half account. 

The scoreboard kept ticking with Sean McVeigh, Shane O’Donnell and Conor O’Donnell snr before Oran Winston was St Eunan’s 10th scorer. Cloughaneely got a second goal in similar fashion to the first when Paul Sweeney got a fist on Ciaran McGeady’s inviting ball in late on.

St Eunan’s scorers: Eoin McGeehin 0-8, 5f; Conor O’Donnell jnr 0-5, 1f; Ciaran Moore 1-0; Brian MacIntyre, Padraig McGettigan, Kieran Tobin, Sean McVeigh, Shane O’Donnell, Conor O’Donnell snr, Oran Winston 0-1.

Cloughaneely scorers: Paul Sweeney 1-1; Blake McGarvey 1-0; Shaun Curran 0-3, 1f; Jason McGee 0-2, 2f Mark Harley  0-1.

St Eunan’s: Shaun Patton;  Conor Parke, Caolan Ward, Peter McEniff; Sean McVeigh, Kieran Tobin, Peter Devine; Ciaran Moore, Sean McGettigan; Kevin Kealy, Shane O’Donnell, Brian MacIntyre;  Conor O’Donnell jnr, Padraig McGettigan,  Eoin McGeehin. Subs : Oran Winston and Jordan O’Dowd for P McGettigan and MacIntyre  (45), Conor O’Donnell snr for Tobin (50), Aaron Deeney for  McEniff (56).

Cloughaneely: Shaun McClafferty; Fionn McGinley, Lee O’Brien, Ciaran McFadden; Cian McFadden, Michael Fitzgerald, Shaun Curran; Darren McGeever, Martin Maguire; Conor Coyle, Blake McGarvey, Ciaran McGeady; Paul Sweeney, Jason McGee, Mark Harley. Subs: Cillian Gallagher (45), Cathal McGeever for Maguire (53)

Referee: Marc Brown (Four Masters)