Buncrana produce notable Hurling League scalp against St Eunan's in Letterkenny
Buncrana are now three wins from three in the Donegal Senior Hurling League this season with their latest victory coming away to St Eunan's
Buncrana pulled off a surprise with a deserved win over St Eunan’s in a high-scoring affair in O’Donnell Park.
Two scoring bursts from the visitors were the key deciding factors in this well-contested affair.
A low-scoring opening half with the teams tied on 0-2 each suddenly ignited when Buncrana full-forward Ciaran McLaughlin flicked a ball to the net.
David Carey and Dylan Duffy then struck two points each before half time and a Brendan Gaffey free was Eunan’s reply which left Buncrana leading by 1-6 to 0-3 at the break. McLaughlin struck another hammer blow three minutes into the second half when he hit another goal to open up a nine-point lead.
St Eunan’s began to chip away at the deficit through Matt Ahern’s from play and Gavin Forde’s unerring frees.e A Kevin Kealy goal in the 40th minute cut Buncrana’s lead to three points.
Further points from Forde and Kealy were cancelled out by two Caolan O’Neill frees. St Eunan’s levelled matters through points from Forde, Cormac Finn and John Kealy.
But Buncran finished strongly as Peter Grant struck two swift points and Caolan O’Neill added two more from frees. And Grant intercepted a puck out and netted to carve out a deserved victory.
St Eunan’s scorers: Gavin Forde 0-7,6f; Kevin Kealy 1-1; Matt Ahern 0-3; Brendan Gaffey 02,1f; Cormac Finn 0-1.
Buncrana scorers: Caolan O’Neill 0-7; 7f; Ciaran McLaughlin 2-0; Peter Grant 1-2; David Carey 0-3; Dylan Duffy 0-3; Kevin O’Rourke 0-1.
St Eunan’s: Lee Scanlon, J P Curran, Conor Neely, Lorcan Heavey; John Halvey, ohnn MacIntyre, Mark Mulholland; Cormac Finn, Brendan Gaffey; John Fearghal Delaney, John Lambe; Gavin Forde, Matt Ahern Russell Forde. Subs: Oisin Randles, Kevin Kealy, Killian Barr, Matthew Lambe, Shane Maguire.
Buncrana: Tom Mitchell; Paddy Wilson, John Vaughan Martin Óg Shiels; Cathal Wilson, James Doherty, Conor Grant; Declan McCarron, Peter Grant; Tom Clare, David Carey, Ruairi Doherty; Dylan Duffy, Ciaran McLaughlin, Caolan O’Neill. Subs: Kevin O’Rourke, Oisin Hegarty.
Referee: Ciaran O’Neill (Setanta)