Rory Kavanagh: ‘It is all about building experience’

Consistency is the key to St Eunan’s upsetting the odds and taking their first Dr Maguire Cup back to Letterkenny for the first time since 2014.

Their canny, measured team manager Rory Kavanagh does not talk about winning but is keen for his young charges to shed their quasi Jekyll and Hyde season.

For Eunan’s have mixed magnificence with mediocrity and their young captain Niall O’Donnell says they have “stumbled” to the final. Now that is a tad harsh on a quality side, but Kavanagh is aware that a victory would be a huge psychological boost to the town.

Their hurlers have already set an example and, even though they are not favourites, Kavanagh is very aware that there is a deep sense of expectation in his hometown.

“The last time we were in a final was six years ago and that is a long time to wait and a lot of time has passed,” Kavanagh said.

“But this is a new team that we have been building over the past few years and we have gone close in the past couple of finals against Naomh Conaill and we are just delighted that we have the opportunity to experience that again and hopefully now we can put in a big performance because we know we are going to be up against it”.

Their first half display against Kilcar, in the earlier round was one of the best seen in recent years, but the second half display was not so good, losing a six-point lead to go down 1-14 to 1-12. And that has been their theme tune so far.

“Yes, we scored 1-8 in the first half, but games are over 60 minutes and we were disappointed by the second half, but it was a chance for us to take a few learnings from it and we did that,” Kavanagh added.

“I just feel there has been inconsistency in the campaign, but it is all about getting to the county final and hopefully we can put in a big performance”.

So what is the reason for this mixed campaign?

Kavanagh said: “I think it is youth too and we have a lot of young players in the squad and they are learning within each game and they are facing different challenges within each game as well and then we had a tough match against Termon in the Burn Road. But a lot of people thought we had the easier side of the draw and we had to take advantage of that and thankfully we did”.

But Eunan’s had a very good second half against Aodh Ruadh as well.

“Well, Aodh Ruadh were just up from Intermediate, and you have to be realistic and Naomh Conaill have beaten seasoned teams like Gaoth Dobhair and Kilcar so we know the level they are at and we hope to match them,” Kavanagh said.

“It will be a difficult task and Naomh Conaill have a style of play built up over five seasons and are well embedded and they are going for three in a row so they are going to be a real tough nut to crack. The hurlers did a good job last week, so morale is good in the camp”.

But these young lads have already played in senior semi-finals and have considerable underage success.

“Yes they are used to winning which is a good habit and it is all building and it is a learning curve and they don’t come any bigger than Sunday,” Kavanagh said. “The whole town is looking forward to it.

“We have a squad and so have Naomh Conaill and it is about trusting them and we said from the very beginning that we would use our squad irrespective of the result because you are playing week on week, and you are picking up injuries.

“We knew at the start that the Kilcar game would not define us and as we had the easier side of the draw it was a chance to use more players. We are happy now that players have got championship games and it is all about building experience.”