AIB Ulster Club SFC preliminary round
Errigal Ciaran (Tyrone) 0-12 St Eunan’s, Letterkenny (Donegal) 0-10
A STRANGE week lies ahead in the McGinley household after Errigal Ciaran’s dramatic late surge was enough to send St Eunan’s tumbling out of the Ulster club championship on Saturday night.
Ben McDonnell struck with three late points to edge this arm wrestle in the Tyrone champions’ favour after a Shane O’Donnell-inspired Letterkenny side looked to have done just enough as the seconds ticked down.
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Their reward? A quarter-final showdown with Cargin on Sunday.
As drizzle descended on Healy Park, Enda McGinley knew the question was coming long before it left the lips of those stood before him. The three-time All-Ireland winner, in the first year at the helm of his home club, knows a bit about the Antrim champions.
Actually, as understatements go, that’s right up there.
His wife Geardine is a sister of the McCann brothers – Mick, Tomas, Paul and Gerard - who have backboned Cargin’s domestic dominance across the past decade, delivering eight county crowns in an unprecedented spell of success for the Toome club.
McGinley went to war with Mick and Tomas on the field when reigning All-Ireland kingpins Tyrone swept Antrim aside in the 2009 Ulster final, and later managed the pair during a two-year stint with the Saffrons.
Plotting against them in the claustrophobic club environment, however, is a different matter entirely.
“I’m in the garage,” he smiled, “I’m securing my wee laptop and my wee notebooks, and all conversations this week are going to be somewhat guarded.”
Indeed, another brother-in-law, Eamon – who runs CrossFit Anam in Toome – has helped plan Errigal’s gym work this year, alongside Tommy Canavan, who came off the bench to bag the last score of the night on Saturday.
That arrangement, however, will be parked for the time being.
“He very kindly offered us a free session there on Tuesday night, but I’m going to decline this time.
“We’ll go on our own steam for this match…”
But that family affair has only come about because, from somewhere, McGinley’s Errigal side found something special to drag themselves back from the brink on Saturday.
Not that Eunan’s were running away with it, or even operating with any great measure of authority. But they had just managed to nick their noses in front when it mattered – Conor O’Donnell jr pumping his fist into the air as his 59th minute 45 split the posts, moving them a point ahead and providing a platform to see the game out.
The second half, though, had been nothing like the first. The Canavan brothers, Darragh and Ruairi, looked lively early on, but a combination of Aaron Deeney, Caolan Ward and sweeper Darragh Mulgrew – with a bit of post Tyrone title-winning tiredness thrown in for good measure – meant their overall contribution was subdued rather than significant.
With playmaker Niall O’Donnell only appearing after half-time, St Eunan’s sat in and invited Errigal to try and find gaps. But, too often when they did, those opportunities went unpunished, a succession of poor wides ramping up the slight sense of panic as the Tyrone club’s control was not reflected on the scoreboard.
That wasn’t helped 15 minutes in when, with the chance to push their lead out to four after Joe Oguz was felled by Mulgrew inside the square, Shaun Patton dived to his left to brilliantly turn away Peter Harte’s penalty.
“We weren’t clicking, we were struggling up front, we were missing chances, attacks were breaking down in a sloppy enough fashion,” said McGinley.
“It felt like one of those nights where it just wasn’t going to happen for you.”
That penalty miss could have proved one of those sliding doors moments we see so often in games where breathing room is at a premium. Two minutes after Harte’s penalty was saved, Shane O’Donnell slalomed past three players and slotted over.
What should have been a four point Errigal lead was now one. O’Donnell cut in and curled over on his right to level shortly after – he was running the show now, and neither Cormac Quinn nor any of his team-mates could do anything about it.
The game cranked up another gear after the break. James Kelly had sent St Eunan’s in ahead at half-time and the two sides went at each other for half an hour – Darragh Canavan’s creativity of thought still able to draw breath from the crowd, even on an off night, while the electric Shane O’Donnell picked up where he left off.
At no stage did either manage to open up a lead of more than a point, yet it was the Letterkenny men who looked to be chipping away at their wearying opponents with a little more conviction.
Patton made the extra man up the field to allow Niall O’Donnell to slot over, bringing the Donegal crowd to their feet, before brother Shane conjured his best of the night – dropping the shoulder and leaving four Errigal opponents in his wake on the way to claiming his fourth score from play.
But McGinley’s men weren’t going to be cowed by momentum. They had come out the right side of a hell for leather Tyrone decider eight days earlier to claim a second county title in three years.
And Errigal showed once more that they are made of stern stuff – big Ben striking in some fashion, McDonnell first levelling O’Donnell’s super score before, trailing again going into added time, the towering midfielder beat the blanket by splitting the posts in front of the stand.
Call it clutch, call it composure, call it whatever you like – it was sheer class. A minute later McDonnell was wide open once more, Harte this time spotting him out of the corner of his eye before delivering a pinpoint pass into his path.
Oozing confidence, McDonnell didn’t just rush the shot, instead stepping inside Kieran Tobin before fisting over the bar as the pendulum swung for the final time.
With St Eunan’s forced to go for broke, Darragh Canavan found cousin Tommy rampaging off his left shoulder – the veteran campaigner making no mistake to send Errigal Ciaran through to a third championship clash in 16 days, and Enda McGinley into a bunker for the next week.
Errigal Ciaran: D McAnenly; A McCrory, Ciaran Quinn; N Kelly; Cormac Quinn, P Og McCartan (0-1), T Colhoun; B McDonnell (0-3), J Oguz; P McGirr, P Harte (0-2), C McGinley, D Canavan (0-1); O Robinson (0-1), R Canavan (0-2, 0-1 45).
Subs: T Canavan (0-1) for McGirr (39), M Kavanagh (0-1) for Robinson (55), R Ward for Colhoun (57), D Morrow for Ciaran Quinn (57)
Yellow card: B McDonnell (44)
St Eunan’s: S Patton; C Morrison, C Ward; D Mulgrew; A Deeney, C O’Donnell (0-1), K Tobin; E Dowling, J Kelly (0-1); C Moore, K Kealy, O Winston, S O’Donnell (0-4); C O’Donnell jr (0-3, 0-2 frees, 0-1 45), E McGeehin.
Subs: N O’Donnell (0-1) for Winston (HT), P Boyle for McGeehin (57), L McMonagle for C O’Donnell jr (60)
Referee: N Mooney (Cavan)
