St Eunan's too strong for Ardara as they advance to the Donegal SFC quarter-final

St Eunan's proved their worth as they strolled into the Donegal senior championship quarter-final following a 2-11 to 0-5 point win over Ardara in MacCumhaill Park.

The 2021 county champions were much too strong on the night with the Ardara men only kicking two points in the second half, with Conor Morrison and Niall O'Donnell hitting two late goals to widen the scoreline and make it a 12-point win.

Ardara had the first chance of the match when they won a free 30 metres out from their first attack, but KJ Molloy's effort struck the post as St Eunan's won possession and played the ball out of their defence.

Ciaran Moore would strike the opening score from distance, three minutes into the game, but once again Molloy found an opening and had the chance to put Ardara into the lead when beat the St Eunan's defence to fire for goal, but once again was denied by the post.

Because of a series of stoppages for off the ball play, it resulted in the next score not coming until the 11th minute when Pauric Boyle would fire over after receiving the ball from a short free to put his side two up in the opening quarter.

Molloy would eventually put Ardara on the scoreboard from a close free, but Conor O'Donnell Jr would land brilliant back-to-back points for the Letterkenny men.

The first half saw a masterclass of top range score and all-out attacking football, especially from St Eunan's, who were breaking the Ardara defensive line with at ease with pace to fire over from distance, while Ardara relied heavily on Molloy in the full-forward line.

Cailum Malley would nail over Ardara's second point on the 16th minute after a breaking ball on top of the St Eunan's square, while Molloy added his second of the night from a 'mark' following a superb long ball kicked in by Paul Walsh, which would be the last score the men in gold and green would score in the half.

Walsh had a chance to land the opening goal of the evening for Ardara when he rounded two Letterkenny defenders but miskicked the ball as he fell wide of the post.

Eunan's however were never fazed and kicked into gear in the final 10 minutes as they hit the final five scores to take a 0-9 to 0-3 half-time lead with Boyle striking his second from distance, while Anthony Gallagher and Aaron Deeney sprinted the length of the pitch to add their names to the scoreboard, while Eoin McGeehin and Eoin Dowling kicked the final two points from marks.

Ardara started the better of the two sides when CJ Molloy hit the opening score after two minutes when Paddy McGrath won a St Eunan's turnover and fed it to KJ Molloy who popped it sideways for CJ Molloy to kick over.

But the pace and speed from St Eunan's was proving too much while they backed their forwards with long kicking into the full-forward line, one which resulted in Kieran Tobin winning the breaking ball inside and tapping over first his first of the night.

As the game progressed the standard seemed to drop with only Dowling and KJ Molloy landing points in a 15-minute period with the St Eunan's team looking for much in control.

And it would be Barry Meehan's men who would finish the match as a contest on the 57th minute when the Letterkenny men won the ball in their own half resulting in substitute Darragh Mulgrew feeding the ball inside to Niall O'Donnell who played it to McGeehin who charged for goal and could've gone himself only to square it to Conor Morrison who fired home for the opening goal of the game.

But they didn't stop there as the Letterkenny side found their second goal with Moore winning another Ardara turnover, feeding the ball up the field to Conor O'Donnell Jr who laid it off to Niall O'Donnell to rattle home into the net to finish the contest on a 2-11 to 0-5 scoreline.

St Eunan's scorers: Conor Morrison and Niall O'Donnell 1-0; Eoin Dowling 0-2, 1M, 1f; Pauric Boyle and Conor O'Donnell Jr 0-2 each; Eoin McGeehin 0-1, 1M; Ciaran Moore, Anthony Gallagher, Kieran Tobin, and Aaron Deeney 0-1 each.
Ardara scorers: KJ Molloy 0-3, 1f, 1M; CJ Molloy and Cailum Malley 0-1 each.

St Eunan's: Shaun Patton; Conor Morrison, Anthony Gallagher, Aaron Deeney; Oran Winston, Conor O'Donnell Snr, Kieran Tobin; Eoin Dowling, James Kelly, Ciaran Moore, Shane O'Donnell, Conor O'Donnell; Eoin McGeehin, Lee McMonagle, Pauric Boyle. Subs: Kevin Kealy and Caolan Ward for Tobin and Gallagher (both 45); Niall O'Donnell and Darragh Mulgrew for Boyle and McMonagle (both 51); Brian McIntyre for Winston (59)

Ardara: Paddy Gallagher; Paddy McGrath, Shane Whyte, Charlie Bennett; Danny Walsh, Shane Mooney, Darragh Hennigan; Conor Classon, John Ross Molloy; Paul Walsh, Cian Sweeney, Cailum Malley; KJ Molloy, CJ Molloy, Matthew Sweeney. Subs: Niall McCrossan for Walsh (30); Jamie Elliot for Sweeney (53); Oisin O'Donnell for Hennigan (57)

Referee: Robbie O'Donnell (Naomh Muire)