Crunch time in U-21 A Championship for Enright and Glenswilly

Glenswilly secured second spot in their Under-21 A Championship Group A with a nine-point win over Gaoth Dobhair, and it’s now crunch time for the Páirc Naomh Columba men as the knockouts await.

The Glen men ended Gaoth Dobhair’s hopes of making it out of the group as they picked up their second win in three games.

First-half goals from Mark Collum, Reid Kelly and Paul Mullen gave them a 3-6 to 1-4 lead at the break, and they pushed on from that with Patrick Ward adding a fourth goal in the second half.

And corner forward Matthew Enright helped in keeping the scoreline ticking over, as he added five points from play over the course of the hour.

“It’s hard to beat when you get two points any day against Gaoth Dobhair, and the performance is what it was all about. The boys hit the ground running, and that led us the whole way through.”

It’s a second week in a row that Glenswilly have hit four goals, with the middle two coming shortly before half-time.

Dallan Ó Baoill had got a goal back for the Magheragallon men, but Kelly’s strike a minute later got them back on track.

“It shows how clinical we can be. We had two or three close ones and Pádraig (Mac Giolla Bhríde) made a couple of good saves there, but we were well clinical, and you’re not going to be that far away if you do that.

“It was a great reaction to their goal. Michael (Murphy) is constantly talking about that in the changing room, whether it’s a turnover, a goal, it’s always about the reaction, and that from us today showed there on the half-time scoreline.”

Enright, just 18, is in his second season with the 21s, who lost out to back-to-back winners Four Masters in the semi-final last year, having lost the final to the Donegal Town men the year before.

And they lost in Páirc Tírchonaill on the opening weekend, but have bounced back since.

Missing key players on Saturday in Daithi Gildea, Donal Gallagher, Dylan McAteer and Mikey Toner, they were down bodies, but it didn’t bother them.

“We started really poorly in the first half against Four Masters, and we did well in the second half, and since that first half against them we have been on an upward trajectory, and we’re playing well and getting the performances.

“We were missing four senior players there, but Michael always mentions it's the next man up, and if one man is missing, the next man needs to be ready to come in and do a job, and Jack Duddy and Aiden Friel came in, and it was a seamless change.”

Enright and Co. will now take on Naomh Conaill in the quarter-finals as the Glenties side got their first win against St Eunan’s on Sunday to finish third in the group, and it’s all about winning now as the knockouts begin in two weeks.

“It’s just about getting over the line, and it’s small margins now at this stage of it. We just want to close the gap to whoever it is, whether it’s Four Masters or whoever, we want to just get over the line.

“We’ll not fear anybody now; whoever it is we have to play, I’m sure they’ll not fear us either, but the knockout stages are where it all matters. You can do whatever in the group; you just need to get through, but the knockout stage is the crunch time.”