Setanta to have too much firepower for St Eunans in hurling final

It may not be quite in the David and Goliath category but Setanta will carry the favourites’ tag into Saturday’s Donegal Senior Hurling Championship final meeting with St Eunans.

The final is in O’Donnell Park, Letterkenny, a choice of venue Setanta are none too happy with and has a throw-in time of 4 pm.

“It is a home game for St Eunans and is worth four or five points to St Eunans and we feel that is very unfair,” said Setanta manager, Paul Campbell.

The final has been fixed for O’Donnell Park because Sean MacCumhaill Park is unailable due to a Sean MacCumhaills running a ‘Club Funday’.

It is a repeat of the 2017 final won by Setanta, the last time the men from Crossroads got their hands on the coveted Munster Cup.

It was a first final appearance for St Eunans in 35 years since they last won the championship in 1972.

Setanta won the 2017 final by eight points, 1-16 to 1-8, with Bernard Lafferty netting the Setanta goal and Declan Coulter topscoring with 0-8.

Sean McVeigh scored 1-1 and Kevin Meehan hit 0-5 while Niall O’Donnell and Conor O’Grady were the other St Eunans men to raise white flags.

There have been changes to the two lineups since 2017. Denim Rowen and Stephen McBride, Galway man Michael Donoghue, Gerard Gilmore Mark Devine and Davin Flynn are the new faces brought in by manager Paul Campbell.

CHANGES

Tom Hennessy has also made changes at O’Donnell Park. Cian Hennessy in goals, Jack Matthews, Ryan Hilferty and Ciaran Finn have made the step up from minor and Thomas Hartnett has been drafted in from Dungloe.

“We’ve introduced a number of young lads from the minor team and by and large we have a very young side,” said the St Eunans boss.

“We are looking forward to the final and we are fully aware we are facing a very experienced Setana team.”

The sides have met twice this season, once in the championship and the other time in the league. The two clubs play in the Derry senior league.

They drew in the group stages of the championship and Setanta won the league game in O’Donnell Park by four points.

“We had a very good league, we finished in third place and got a number of good results including a win over Slaughtneil, albeit without their county players.

“We had a good win over Banagher, too, but there is very little between the teams and with the game in O’Donnell Park, it is worth four or five points to St Eunans.

“St Eunans are a good dogged team and are very fit and we will be quite happy to come out of O’Donnell Park with a one point win.

“We set ourselves a target at the start of the year to finish fourth in the Derry league and to reach the county final. We have achieved both and now that we are in the final we want to win it.”

They both take an unbeaten run into the final including wins over MacCumhaills, Burt and Buncrana.

Setanta booked their place in the final with a comfortable 4-19 to 1-12 win over Buncrana in the semi-final.

Davin Flynn and Mark Devine scored two goals each and Kevin Campbell posted 0-9 as the full-forward line contributed 4-12 of the total tally.

St Eunans were given a much stiffer test from MacCumhaills in their semi-final. The O’Donnell Park men had three points to spare in their 1-11 to 1-8 win.

Kevin Kealy topscored for St Eunans with 1-2 while Conor O’Grady hit four points and captain Sean McVeigh posted three on a day St Eunan’s were probably more than three points better than the Finnsiders

Tom Hennessy has reported a clean bill of health while Paul Campbell has injury concerns on the fitness of Declan Coulter and Sean Anderson.

Coulter, who has a long term knee injury, has only played 20 minutes of hurling in the championship so far and is unlikely to feature.

Verdict: Setanta

Setanta squad

Ciaran Bellew; Alan McConnell, Simon McMenamin, Denim Rowan, Steven McBride, Martin Bonner, Niall Cleary, Richie Kee, Michael Donoghue, Bernard Lafferty, Danny Cullen, Gerard Gilmore, Mark Devine, Davin Flynn, Kevin Campbell, Dylan Linton, Justin McBride, Conor McGettigan, Patrick Moss, Ciaran O’ Neill, Mark Kane, Brendan Tourish, Brendan O’Brien, Declan Coulter, Shaun Anderson, Mark Callaghan, Shane Flynn, Conor Gallen, James Callaghan, Sean Maxwell.

St Eunans squad

ST EUNANS: Cian Hennessy, Brian McIntyre, Jack Matthews, Conor Parke; Ryan Hilferty, Steven Doherty, Conor O’Grady, Colm Flood, Cormac Finn, Sean Halvey, Sean McVeigh, Conor O’Donnell, Thomas Hartnett, Eugene Organ, Kevin Kealy, Daire McBride, Aidie Gaffey, Conor Kelly, James Hartnett, Matt Ahern, John McIntyre, Darragh McCarthy, P J McBrearty, Odhran McGoinigle, Colm Breathnach, Eoin Scanlon, Cormac Hartnett, Niall O’Donnell, Lochlainn O Dea, Shane Maguire, Jake Whelan