"It's just magnificent" - O'Grady savours St Eunan's SHC triumph

The happy face of St Eunan’s captain Conor O’Grady said it all as he tried to make sense of the huge surge of ecstasy that enveloped his team and its big following in the aftermath of a major shock. 

Some very Christian bookies were reportedly offering odds of 5/1 on a Eunan’s victory for in truth O’Grady’s men, like the Down footballers whp beat Meath in the All-Ireland final, had just beaten “the team that could not be beat”. 

O’Grady played a captain’s role in this famous victory where the bitter bile of successive defeats in 2019 and 2020 was superbly erased on their own turf. 

“It is just magnificent”, said a breathless O’Grady. 

“We were written off all year long, but we knew we needed a good start and we really got going in the first 15 minutes, but we had quite a few wides and we made it a bit hard for ourselves. 

“We talked about getting a good start as in all the other finals they got off to a great start and we were chasing the game. 

“But we were determined not to let that happen again and thankfully it didn’t. 

“Today we got the goal early and then we got the goal in the second hal,f and it is just so great to win it, Oh my God”. 

He added: “Setanta are the bench mark and they have driven on Donegal hurling for many years and they have also pulled us along with them to another level so you have to have the utmost respect for them. 

“In the last five years we have lost four finals so Setanta have been pulling us along with them. 

“But it is absolutely brilliant to beat them today and this will certainly bring on hurling in the town and it is growing all the time. 

“Even since I have started it has improved so much and the underage scene is going well also. 

“But we have had great co-operation from the football people in the club as well and it was great to see all the dual players out there toay and Kevin Kealy got a great goal and Brian McIntyre is always superb. 

"But we also have Sean McVeigh and Daire O’Maoileidigh for the frees. 

“This is a victory for all the great lads who carried the club for years and we all know who they are. And hopefully we can drive on and win a few more ones and this is truly an historic day for us."