Off the Beaten Track - SFC top-scorers and IFC team of the week

Instant impact
Gaeil Fhánada have been sailing close to the wind in the Donegal IFC this season and managed a couple of Houdini acts in the group stages to even make it to the last eight. In the opening round of fixtures they trailed Termon by six points with 10 minutes to play before mustering a comeback to earn a 1-11 to 0-14.

Then, at the Banks, they looked all at sea, five points down to Naomh Muire deep into the second half before pulling back a couple of points before a Paddy Carr goal in injury time salvaged a draw on a scoreline of 1-5 to 0-8. On Sunday in Dunfanaghy, they were staring down the barrel again at four points down in the second half as the contest against Downings looked to be petering out.



With exactly 27 minutes played and losing 0-11 to 0-9, Alan McAteer, who has been scrambled back from Liverpool where he is at college, entered the fray and exactly 100 seconds he was hammering the ball into Aaron McClafferty’s net for an unlikely winning goal that sent his team into the semi-finals.