{"id":63135,"date":"2025-09-14T07:48:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T07:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/63135\/"},"modified":"2025-09-14T07:48:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T07:48:08","slug":"termon-come-of-age-to-maroon-champions-st-eunans-in-dramatic-sfc-fixture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/63135\/","title":{"rendered":"Termon come of age to maroon champions St Eunan’s in dramatic SFC fixture"},"content":{"rendered":"

Termon came through an epic Donegal SFC preliminary quarter-final to dump holders St Eunan\u2019s out in the most dramatic of fashion.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve all heard about the games of two halves, but this was a game with three distinct chapters and when the action was finally done, the Burn Road club had defeated their neighbours in championship football for the first time ever.<\/p>\n

Termon were dominant in the first half and had one foot in the quarter-finals, only for St Eunan\u2019s to completely turn it around in the second half.<\/p>\n

But it was still level, so then it came down to extra-time, with all even again, and it was Termon who won out with Enda McCormick\u2019s first touch providing the last word on the scoreboard at least.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Termon\u2019s biggest win in championship football since perhaps the 2008 Donegal SFC semi-final against Gaoth Dobhair but for this young side, they\u2019ve no interest in what\u2019s gone before. They\u2019re excited about what\u2019s coming ahead. A pitch invasion from their delighted following afterwards showed nobody is marooned just yet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Termon were seven up at half-time thanks to three first-half two-pointers and a Ricky Gallagher goal, but right from the start of part two, driven on by Conor and Shane O\u2019Donnell and Eoin McGeehin, they chipped away and eventually got in front with six to play.<\/p>\n

But Termon ground it a reply and got to extra-time, where they came through.<\/p>\n

With the sides having met as recently as just six days beforehand, with St Eunan\u2019s winning 3-12 to 1-15 at Burn Road, both had plenty of data compiled. Division 1 champions Termon would\u2019ve felt that at least two of those goal concessions were avoidable, and like a week beforehand, had the benefit of the first half wind.<\/p>\n

They had only mustered a one-point lead in the group stage at the break with the elements, and it was a much different affair the second time around.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

By half-time, Caolan McDaid\u2019s team were 1-9 to 0-5 up and value for every bit of it. They set the tone early, with a 0-5 to 0-1 lead that saw Ryan McFadden and John James Sweeney both hitting two-pointers.<\/p>\n

McFadden\u2019s could\u2019ve been more, with a daring long-distance shot for goal in an attempt to lob Shaun Patton, who was out of his goal. It wasn\u2019t far from hitting the net.<\/p>\n

However, on 15 minutes, Patton was caught, this time by Gallagher. But unlike McFadden, it\u2019s perhaps fairer to say the Termon captain was going for a point from a breakaway and the ball flew into the top corner from 30 metres out.<\/p>\n

That put Termon into a lead of 1-5 to 0-3, with Eoin McGeehin St Eunan\u2019s only real threat in the forward line. The Letterkenny side had enough of the ball, although Termon defended diligently and had more purpose in their play.<\/p>\n

St Eunan\u2019s weren\u2019t overly impressive in their initial four games, although winning three from four had got them through. One of their best performers in recent weeks was Conor O\u2019Donnell Jnr, who had amassed 1-20 in the SFC to date, but he was ruled out through injury and the hamstrung Niall O\u2019Donnell didn\u2019t start either, with Conor Parke returning to the defence.<\/p>\n

READ NEXT<\/strong>:\u00a0Tyrone goals kill off Donegal in All-Ireland Masters final<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

McGeehin scored three of St Eunan\u2019s first-half five points, with Kieran Tobin and James Kelly also chipping in, while Daire McDaid\u2019s 45 was Termon\u2019s first score and McFadden and Gallagher added points late in the half. Termon\u2019s sizable support was boosted by a third two-pointer of the first half, with Oisin Harkin showing his accuracy.<\/p>\n

St Eunan\u2019s dominated the second half, with Conor O\u2019Donnell Snr\u2019s two-pointer in the 31st minute setting the tone. Points soon followed from Shane O\u2019Donnell, with two, and Kelly.<\/p>\n

Nine minutes into the half and with their advantage skimmed down from seven to three, Termon broke and Jack Alcorn got in on goal with only Patton. Alcorn, bearing in from the right, went hard but Patton got a vital touch and the ball went just wide and a 45 was given.<\/p>\n

That was one of a series of little things that were accumulating against Termon. Shots were getting a little snatchy and going wide, they were losing the breaks and there was a sense of frustration at\u00a0 Marc Brown. The referee gave St Eunan\u2019s a free when McGeehin seemed to slip and didn\u2019t give Termon one seconds later when substitute Ciaran Cassidy was met by a hefty Conor Parke challenge.<\/p>\n

Either way, it certainly wasn\u2019t entirely the referee\u2019s fault as St Eunan\u2019s moved ahead 0-15 to 1-10, with Daire McDaid scoring Termon\u2019s first point of the second half on 46 minutes and McGeehin and Shane O\u2019Donnell combining for five more St Eunan\u2019s points.<\/p>\n

By then it looked over, with the O\u2019Donnell Park team two in front with two to play and their luck looked out when Bobby McGettigan slapped an Alcorn centre onto the St Eunan\u2019s crossbar with 90 seconds left.<\/p>\n

However, Oisin Harkin\u2019s free in the third of at least four minutes of injury time signalled made it a one-point game. St Eunan\u2019s had the ball in Termon territory as that time was almost up, only to be gobbled after carelessly giving the ball away and Termon\u2019s Aaron Reid punched over – there was more than a hint of goal chance – a 66th minute leveller, to make the full-time score Termon 0-15 St Eunan\u2019s 1-12.<\/p>\n

The break before extra-time meant that both teams could press the reset button and whoever wanted the momentum now needed to find it again from scratch.<\/p>\n

Niall O\u2019Donnell, like McGettigan, was a wildcard late replacement with neither player fit; both were back on the sidelines as extra-time started, although would play cameos.<\/p>\n

Termon, with fire in their bellies again, hit the first two points from Sweney and Daire McDaid, only for St Eunan\u2019s to get back on terms through Shane O\u2019Donnell\u2019s sixth point and a 45 from Patton. But it was Termon who were in the lead at half-time in extra-time, 1-15 to 0-17, with Patrick Fegan\u2019s late point the divider.<\/p>\n

St Eunan\u2019s saw Shane O\u2019Donnell and a now hobbling McGeehin miss chances to level again and Termon\u2019s Cassidy saw a fisted effort at a point clunk Patton\u2019s upright.<\/p>\n

Enda McCormick came off the Termon bench and instantly scored a point to double the lead. With a minute to play Shane O\u2019Donnell managed a score and Ciaran Moore had an effort go wide and was then brilliantly pop-tackled by Cormac Gallagher in the last play and Termon were through – it was a contest that they won and almost lost, and won again.<\/p>\n

Termon:<\/strong> Emmet Maguire; Conor Brady, Cormac Gallagher, Oisin Cassidy; Patrick Fegan, Conor Cassidy, Ricky Gallagher; Oisin Harkin, Kevin McGettigan; John James Sweeney, Aaron Reid, Evan Coleman; Daire McDaid, Jack Alcorn, Ryan McFadden. Subs: Ciaran Cassidy for Coleman (half-time), Bobby McGettigan for R McFadden (56); R McFadden for McGettigan (extra-time), Barry McGeehin for Brady (74), Enda McCormick for Sweeney (77), McGettigan on for Reid (80)<\/p>\n

St Eunan\u2019s:<\/strong> Shaun Patton; Peter Devine, Conor Parke, Aaron Deeney; Kieran Tobin, Conor O\u2019Donnell, James Kelly; Kevin Kealy, Ciaran Moore; Oran Winston, Shane O\u2019Donnell, Caolan Ward; Pauric Boyle, Eoin McGeehin, Philip Doherty. Subs: Eoin Dowling and Luke McGuinness for Kealy and Boyle (half-time), Niall O\u2019Donnell for Doherty (60+1); Boyle for Niall O\u2019Donnell (extra-time), Doherty for Parke (66) Sean Ryan for Devine (67), N O\u2019Donnell for McGeehin (74)<\/p>\n

Termon scorers:<\/strong> Ricky Gallagher 1-2; Oisin Harkin 0-3, 1f tp; Ryan McFadden and John James Sweeney 0-3, tp; Daire McDaid 0-2, 1f, 45; Aaron Reid, Patrick Fegan and Enda McCormick 0-1.
St Eunan\u2019s scorers:<\/strong> Eoin McGeehin 0-6, 2f; Shane O\u2019Donnell 0-6, tp; James Kelly 0-2; Conor O\u2019Donnell Snr 0-2, tp; Kieran Tobin 0-1; Shaun Patton 0-1, 45.
Referee:<\/strong> Marc Browne (Four Masters).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Termon came through an epic Donegal SFC preliminary quarter-final to dump holders St Eunan\u2019s out in the most…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,17159,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,44691,44690,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-63135","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-donegal-gaa","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-featured-news","13":"tag-featurednews","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland","17":"tag-latest-news","18":"tag-latestnews","19":"tag-main-news","20":"tag-mainnews","21":"tag-news","22":"tag-st-eunans-gaa","23":"tag-termon","24":"tag-top-stories","25":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}