St Eunan's and Donnelly gear up for 'an exceptional team' in Scotstown
St Eunan’s manager Kieran Donnelly took Scotstown to the brink of the Ulster Club SFC in 2018 and now will be plotting a way to get past the current provincial champions
Kieran Donnelly will face one of his former clubs in the Ulster Club SFC semi-final.
The St Eunan’s manager saw his team defeat Fermanagh champions Erne Gaels from Belleek 1-14 to 0-10 on Saturday evening at Brewster Park in Enniskillen, with Conor O’Donnell Jnr grabbing the only goal of the game.
St Eunan’s will now take on Scotstown in the semi-final on Saturday, November 21, following the reigning Monaghan and Ulster champions coming through a marathon clash on Sunday.
Scotstown survived an extra-time thriller against O'Donovan Rossa Magherafelt from Derry at Clones. Despite Magherafelt's high-energy drive and determination, Scotstown's experience ultimately saw them through to a dramatic 2-21 to 2-20 victory.
Donnelly led Scotstown to Monaghan SFC crowns in 2017 and 2018, reaching the Ulster final in the latter of those years, only to lose to Gaoth Dobhair in extra-time in Omagh.
“Scotstown are an exceptional team,” he said. “They've added serious quality with youth.”
Elsewhere, Tyrone’s Edendork survived a late scare to scrape past St Brigid’s of Antrim 1-15 to 2-11 and into an Ulster Club SFC semi-final tie against the might of Crossmaglen Rangers. The Armagh champions staged a remarkable comeback to snatch a dramatic 1-22 to 2-18 victory over Gowna from Cavan with Rian O’Neill landing a sensational two-pointer with the final kick of the game.
The Letterkenny team, against Erne Gaels, were 0-7 to 0-3 in front at the break after a strong finish to the first half and drove home their authority in the third quarter.
A native of Brookeborough in the Erne County, having also managed Fermanagh senior footballers, Donnelly was well-versed on Erne Gaels, who had won three domestic senior championships in a row.
“I thought the defensive shape was good from both sides,” Donnelly said in Enniskillen. “But I just thought our third quarter was a big one. We thought it was a high-energy game. It felt, from the sideline, the referee was letting a lot of contact go. It was high-octane. We just left a lot of scores behind us in the first half, too, these guys, you know. But I just thought that third quarter, look, we got on top.
“We started squeezing their kick-outs a wee bit more, which was probably a strength of ours throughout the Donegal championship, and we weren't getting theirs, which we were going after.
“It was a big focus of our pre-match talk. Once we got on top of that, we just built scores, and I think that just probably gave us that bit of caution then into the last quarter, which we ended up needing.”
Donnelly revealed that Niall O’Donnell, who is currently based in Chicago and had travelled back for the Donegal SFC quarter-final, semi-final and final, had work commitments.
“He was not getting away from it,” Donnelly said of O’Donnell. “So he only found out on Wednesday. Very keen to try to make it work, but he was going to be out of Flynn on Saturday, today, midday. And it wasn't worth it, probably. Look, he stays tired. There's a lot of rest, and the time zones, and everything else.”