St Eunan’s take Treanor in low scoring final

Danske Bank Treanor Cup final
St Eunan’s Letterkenny 0-7 St Louis Ballymena 1-2
THE turning point in this Danske Bank Treanor Cup final in Portstewart yesterday arrived on the three quarter mark when St Louis forward Paddy Dougan picked up a black card and had to be replaced by Adam Campbell.
The Ahoghill midfielder had been central to St Louis pulling back level at 1-1 to 0-4 after failing to raise a flag in the opening half. After his dismissal, the momentum swung in favour of the Donegal school and they added three quick frees to put the tie beyond St Louis in what was very much a game of missed chances.
Both teams set up with extra cover at the back, indeed at times there were two and three extra players in the defences and that made scoring pretty difficult. Having said that both sides missed gilt-edged chances from frees, possible scores that could well have put the game out of their opponents’ reach.
Paudie McGilligan, Ryan McQuillan, Shaun O’Callaghan and Patrick Ferris all showed up well for Ballymena, while Jack Gallagher at centre-half back and Noel O’Donnell were huge presences for the Donegal side with Keelan Collier’s frees in the second half very important.
St Eunan’s were wind-assisted in the first half and managed four scores, points each for Collier and Callum Friel in between a double from Shane Monaghan – but it really was a story of wayward shooting.
St Louis started the second half strongly with Aidan Scullion hitting the St Eunan’s net after carrying the ball into scoring range. When Colla McDonnell added a point, it looked very likely that Ballymena could push on with the wind advantage.
However the loss of Dougan and then a huge free into the breeze from Collier changed the dynamic. Collier and Monaghan added two more scores from frees and Aidan Scullion’s late score couldn’t swing the game for St Louis.
St Eunan’s Squad : M Whoriskey, O McDaid, J Roarty, S Collum, O Brogan, J Gallagher, C McDermott, N O’Donnell, J Alcorn, E O’Boyle, C Friel 0-1, C Cassidy, S Monaghan 0-3, 0-2 frees, S McVeigh, K Collier 0-3, 0-2 frees
Subs : D Boyle for S McVeigh, C McGonigle for E O’Boyle
St Louis : R McCloskey, S Higgins, C Killough, D McNicholl, S O’Callaghan, R McGuigan, R McQuillan, P Dougan, P McGilligan, R McKillop, P Ferris capt., A Scullion 1-1, C Campbell, C Higgins, C McDonnell 0-1.
Subs : A Campbell for P Dougan
Referee : A Mullan (Derry).