Naomh Conaill manager Regan against ‘home game for Eunan’s in county final’

Naomh Conaill manager Martin Regan admits he was not enamoured with the suggestion that his side might’ve had to play St Eunan’s in the Donegal SFC final at O’Donnell Park.

Recent heavy rain had put a question mark over the Ballybofey venue, but Sunday’s final has been fixed for the Twin Towns venue. And in the event that further rain renders the Ballybofey venue unplayable, the county board could have a tough call to make.

MacCumhaill Park is to be inspected on Thursday again, although the senior final is expected to be played there and the inspection will determine whether the senior B final will take place before or after.

“We would not want to play the county final in O’Donnell Park,” Regan said. “I would have an issue and I would be very annoyed at having to go to O’Donnell Park”.

“O’Donnell Park is an absolutely brilliant venue and is in brilliant shape, and it is nothing against St Eunan’s, but at the end of the day it is a home game for St Eunan’s in a county final.

“It would be pretty unprecedented to have to play a team at their home venue in the county final. We would not be in agreement with it at all. There are plenty of other venues in the county.

“Donegal Town is a great venue and they have built this Centre of Excellence in Convoy so there is no reason why it should not be used. And that is nothing against O’Donnell Park, I love going there and it is a great venue but not to play St Eunan’s. You don’t want to give a team a home venue in a county final”.

Regan’s team have beaten St Eunan’s by a point in each of the last two semi-finals, with last year’s match decided by a somewhat controversial goal by Leo McLoone, who knocked the ball from Shaun Patton’s grasp to seal a 1-10 to 0-12 win.

“Eunan’s were the better team in extra time, and could have got over the line,” Regan said. “But if we had lost it in normal time, we would have been disappointed as they got a few frees that were on the soft side that brought it into extra time.

“And we had a man sent off in the wrong in the first half, AJ Gallagher and that red card was rescinded, and he did nothing to deserve that card. AJ has a great record and had never been sent off in his career”.

“Alright the goal could have gone either way and we needed it as we were three down with three or four minutes to go. And I am not saying we would not have got one anyway as our boys always find a way of making things happen. But we could have lost that game”.

And, he does not accept that the manner of last year’s defeat will be a motivating factor for Eunan’s.

“No, if you need to go looking for things like that for motivation, there is something wrong,” Regan added. “It’s a county final and you should not need any motivation other than that”.