Setanta welcome back Davin Flynn for SHC final

Setanta star Davin Flynn is back in contention for a starting slot, as the Finn Valley men go for three- in-row county finals against St Eunan’s on Saturday.

Team boss Gary McGettigan revealed that last year’s county final man of the match came back just before the county semi-final. And he has been “going pretty well” in training ahead of Saturday’s crunch clash.

The news certainly boosts favourites Setanta chances and will surely shorten the odds on their retention of the county championship.

“Davin has a second young child and had a lot going on all year and he was just not able to commit,” McGettigan said. “We understood the situation and he was under no pressure at all from us. But he was back with the squad for the county semi-final even though he was not togged out.

“Now he has had no game time yet, but he has been training pretty well for the past four weeks. He will not be far away on Saturday. Having him back is a huge bonus and he is back on board, and we are glad to have him. A man like that, you are not going to turn him away.

On his day, the ex-Tipperary Intermediate star is the most gifted player in the county and his return is not good news for underdogs St Eunan’s who have lost to Setanta in the last two finals on the trot. But Setanta are not even thinking about three in a row according to the Strabane based McGettigan.

“This is our fifth final in a row and if we win on Saturday, it will be our third title in a row,” he added. “We beat them in the past two finals and there will be no secrets between us and up to now we have had the upper hand on them but at some stage that is going to change, and they are still a fairly young side and let’s hope it is not this year”.

The only real absentee is Stephen McBride who is on duty with the Defence Forces while rising star Oisin Marley is just recovering from a painful eye injury sustained against Burt.

“Oisin was only 18 a few weeks ago and he got a bad eye injury off the ball and he has not trained too much but he will be in contention also,” McGettigan added. “He was too young to play last year but he has been a revelation this year”.

When asked where the main threats will come from St Eunan’s, he said: “The likes of Sean McVeigh, you never know exactly where he is going to play, Kevin Kealy is always a threat, Cormac Finn and Daire O’Maoileidigh is a very handy hurler and he is quiet a threat too.

“We beat them fairly well in the end in the round robin, but their footballers were not playing that day and they beat us in the League and we were missing our county men.

But apart from Flynn, Marley etc Danny Cullen and Declan Coulter are two great leaders for Setanta.

“They are two of the fittest men on the team even though they are into their thirties,” McGettigan added. “And apart from what they do it is what they say and they help the younger players”.

Setanta have a lot of experience with youth coming through like Dean Harvey and Ryan Coyle who are also looking for places.