O’Leary hits winner as MacCumhaills defeat Naomh Conaill in Senior C final

Sean MacCumhaills made it third time lucky with Saturday’s afternoon’s narrow win over Naomh Conaill in the Donegal Senior C final at Pairc Naomh Columba in Glenswilly.

Sean MacCumhaills 0-7
Naomh Conaill 0-6

Darren O’Leary kicked the late winner for the Twin Towns men as they halted Naomh Conaill’s bid for more glory.

In a closely fought encounter throughout the clean-sweep-chasing Naomh Conaill got off to the brighter start.

Naomh Conaill looked a class apart, driven on by former county minor Mark Gallagher and Odhran McCallig really buzzing at full-forward in the opening quarter hour.

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They led 0-3 to 0-0 by the end of the opening quarter. The nimble footed McCallig nailed two of those opening points while Micheál McKelvey knocked over the other point.   

MacCumhaill who lost cornerback Shane Thompson to an early black card were wayward in their shooting early on.

The Finnsiders had to wait 20 minutes for their opening score. Centre half-forward Fintan Griffin raced through to clip over from in front of the posts.

When veteran full-forward O’Leary struck twice in quick succession it was game on at  0-3 each, as the clock ticked on half-time.

McCallig landed his third point of the half deep in injury time to edge Naomh Conaill back in front, 0-4 to 0-3, as they rushed off for the half-time break.

Sean Doherty and Michael Trimble added quick points on the resumption for a three-point margin once more. .

MacCumhaills, who lost last year’s final to Naomh Conaill also came out on the wrong side of the result in 2019 when St Eunan’s were their conquerors.

Trimble’s strike seven minutes into the new half was Naomh Conaill’s final score of the game.

MacCumhaills pushed up and with Adrian Gillespie and Ryan Duffy stepping up and Seamus McGinty, who is 52, driving forward

They slowly clawed their way back into the game and they posted the next three scores. Two from the boot of top scorer O’Leary and one from Fintan Griffin.

O’Leary’s strike from way out on the right hand side was a brilliant point and must have rekindled memories of his free-scoring senior days as he sliced it between the posts for the lead score.

IThat was on 57 minutes and while Naomh Conaill pressed for the equaliser in the remaining eight minutes they could not raise a flag.

Second half substitute Eoghan Boyle had two late chances from close in frees and failed to yield scores and Micheál McKelvey was also wide with a late effort as Sean McCumhaills held on.

Sean MacCumhaills scorers: Darren O’Leary 0-4, 2f; Fintan Griffin 0-2; Joe Dunnion 0-1.

Naomh Conaill scorers: Odhran McCallig 0-2; Noel Gavigan, Micheál McKelvey, Sean Doherty, Michael Trimble 0-1 each.

Sean MacCumhaills: Edwin Patton; Seamus McGinty, Conor GrIffin, Shane Thompson; Ciaran Bonner, Brendan Heeney, Karl Lafferty; Adrian Gillespie, Ryan Duffy; Oisin McGlinchey, Fintan Griffin, Andrew Murray; Evan Long, Darren O’Leary, Joe Dunnion. Subs: Shane Griffin for  Murray, Joey Lafferty for Heeney, Barry Browne for Gillespie.

Naomh Conaill: James Boyle; Ronan Breslin, Kevin Gavigan, Kelvin Gorney; Micheal Trimble, Charlie McDonnell, Dermot Ward; Mark Gallagher, James Molloy; Dermot Brennan, Noel Gavigan, Sean Doherty; Matthew Mills, Odhran McCallig, Michael McKelvey. Subs: Paddy Molloy for Mills; Ronan O’ Donnell for Molloy; Eoghan Boyle for Brennan.

Referee: Clint Marron (Urris).