Talking Points: O’Keeffe's small net gains the difference again for Gunners
Patrick Peter Celebrate And Inpho/bryan Job Hogan Done: Ballygunner's Keane Pic: Fitzgerald
It probably would have been the game. It should have been but Stephen O’Keeffe made sure it wasn’t. When Jack Ryan raced through on the Ballygunner goal in the 34th minute, he did exactly what O’Keeffe wanted and expected him to do – strike across his body to generate the most power. But nobody is better at stopping those shots than O’Keeffe.
Although Ryan was attacking at an angle, the Ballygunner ‘keeper was already almost in the middle of the goal, leaning on his right foot and moving his body and hurley to his right before Ryan even struck the ball. Ryan did have Philip Mahony and Ronan Power hot on his heels but getting off a flatter strike with far less power at the near post would have meant a certain goal. And probably a memorable victory for Doon.
What happened next though, was just as instructive as to why Ballygunner won the game, and Doon didn’t. Mahony picked up the loose ball before exchanging short passes with O’Keeffe and initiating a move which went through the hands of Mahony’s brothers Mikey and Pauric before Dessie Hutchinson split the posts.
A four-point swing decisively swung the momentum back towards Ballygunner, who were a different team in the second half. Yet the Gunners also tweaked their playing style after the break by keeping the ball out of the middle, especially on the second ball after a short puckout.
Doon had physically beaten Ballygunner up in the first half, especially in the second quarter when they sourced 0-8 off turnovers, most of which came in the middle third. Moving the ball more along the flanks, particularly with intelligent pop stick passes, generated more of a plentiful supply up front.
After being restricted to just eight combined possessions in the first half, which amounted to two points and one assist, Hutchinson and Patrick Fitzgerald had a combined 22 possessions after the break, which amounted to 0-8, and another 0-2 from assists.
O’Keeffe’s contribution though, was equally as important, not just for his saves (he also stopped two more goal attempts), but for what Ballygunner did after those plays; after stopping shots from Ryan and Eddie Stokes, and saving two Doon point attempts in the first half, Ballygunner sourced 0-4 directly off those turnovers.
When Doon levelled the match at 0-15 each in the middle of the second half, Ballygunner mined their next two points off laser O’Keeffe puckouts.
Massive win for Ballygunner. Massive contribution from O’Keeffe.
Having shared 14 of the last 20 championships, the St Eunan’s and Naomh Conaill’s rivalry has largely defined the last two decades of the Donegal championship. Neither side made a mark in Ulster in that time, but the Glenties side has certainly gone a lot closer, having reached provincial finals in 2010 and 2019, which they lost to Crossmaglen Rangers and Kilcoo respectively. Naomh Conaill came agonisingly close to reaching a third final last year before being denied by a last second winning point from a Glen side that went on to win the All-Ireland.
St Eunan’s, on the otherhand, have only come close to reaching a provincial final on two occasions, but they lost to Crossmaglen in 2008 and Omagh St Enda’s in 2014, both by margins of three points.
Despite having won eight Donegal titles in the last 25 years, St Eunan’s have only won just two games in Ulster in that time, beating Clonoe O’Rahilly’s in 2008, and Roslea Shamrocks in 2014.
Eunan’s did go close to winning a few more games, losing to Cavan Gaels in 2001 and 2007, and Glen in 2021, by just one point. Donegal teams have never had a good record in Ulster, but two victories in their previous eight provincial campaigns was not good enough for a club of Eunan’s pedigree.
Trying to get that third victory was never going to be easy on Saturday against Errigal Ciarán but Eunan’s will be haunted by losing another match in Ulster, especially when a paltry conversion rate of just 38 per cent in the second half ultimately undid them.
Eunan’s will harbour huge regrets too about the manner in which they let the game slip from their grasp, coughing up the last three Errigal points off turnovers in the middle of the field. Ahead at half-time by 0-5 to 0-4, all of Eunan’s scores had come from their own kickout. When they took control in the third quarter, their dominance came off a hard press on the Errigal kickout. The Letterkenny side had loads of possession – they just couldn’t convert it.
After winning the Tyrone title eight days earlier, Errigal looked tired, flat and sluggish. Their conversion rate from play in the first half was just 20 per cent, while they only managed one point in a 35-minute period either side of half-time. But they finally found their range with 0-5 from their last five shots and, more importantly they rediscovered the power in their legs when they really needed it.
Reliant on the Canavan brothers in Tyrone, Darragh and Ruairi were held to 0-1 from play on Saturday, which magnified Errigal’s struggles for long periods. The Canavan brothers were restricted to just five shots from play overall but they also drew a mass of Eunan’s bodies around them, which was critical late on in opening up the space for Ben McDonnell.
Ruairi’s influence was still decisive, with direct assists for 0-4, but McDonnell ultimately dug out the win for Errigal with three excellent points, including the late equaliser and score which put Errigal ahead in additional time.
Delight for Errigal. More agony for Eunan’s in Ulster.
On Saturday in Nowlan Park, Barcelona Gaels fired a huge flare into the sky when beating Conahy Shamrocks in the Leinster Junior championship. As well as being the first side from Iberia to compete in the competition, the Gaels were also the first European side to record a victory in the province.
They fancied their chances going into the match, especially when Amsterdam had gone so close in the past two years to recording that maiden win, going down by narrow margins to Kilbride (Meath) and Laragh (Wicklow).
A comprehensive 12-point victory for Barcelona on Saturday came on the back of wins against Madrid Harps, Amsterdam and Berlin en route to their first European title. Barcelona really announced their intentions in the semi-final against Amsterdam, a team that had never lost in a European 15-a-side competition.
Founded in 2001 by Kerry native Finbar Barrett, the Barcelona club is still heavily reliant on the generosity of other sports who agree to lend out the use of their grounds for training and matches. For most of its existence, the club were dependent on transient players, primarily college students.
When covid hit, there were fears that the club would be wiped out, but the spin-off was the exact opposite. The club has seen a huge explosion in growth in the last three years, so much so that they now have a membership that’s large enough to fill two men’s teams and two ladies football squads.
A few months back, Barcelona Gaels completed a clean sweep of Iberian titles in Salou when securing the senior and Intermediate men and ladies football championships.
Saturday was a huge step, but it also reaffirmed how Barcelona is a club really going places.