EVAN Daly beamed with delight after helping St Eunan’s College advance to the MacLarnon Cup Final on Thursday.
Daly held the middle well for St Eunan’s College from centre half-back.
He was one of a number of good performers as St Eunan’s saw off a good Holy Trinity team.
“We started off strong in the first half.
“We got three goals and we felt ourselves that we were playing well and put it up to them.
“They gave it back to us in the second half. We got a bit of a rattle but we probably needed that to keep us going.
“They were a good team. That number 11 (Karol Wawrynkiewicz) was excellent and got a good two-pointer near the end.
“But we kept our heads.”
St Eunan’s raced ahead and while Cookstown battled back, fresh energy helped the Sentry Hill lads get over the line.
Shay Sweeney and Aaron McGinley both nailed good points.
Jonah Cannon didn’t get on the scoresheet but was the hero of the quarter-final which shows that St Eunan’s have a strong panel.
“The boys on the bench were excellent.
“It’s been the same for every game this year.
“The subs are impacting games so much and that’s what every team needs.”
St Eunan’s reached a MacRory Cup quarter-final in 2020 but it’s been a challenge at senior level in recent years. A good chunk of the panel are underage again next year which bodes well.
“We have been struggling at seniors.
“I don’t think we won a game in five years before this season.
“I was part of the team last year. We were close. We had a good team with talent but we just couldn’t get over the line for a win.
“This year we got the win and we have managed to keep it going from there.”
Daly was a county minor last year so he has experience of big games.
He will look to tap into that in the lead up to the final.
The St Eunan’s clubman will enjoy the buzz ahead of the decider.
“It’s going to be a great two weeks in the College now.
“There’s going to be a lot of chat about it.
“We will just train hard now for two weeks and give it our all then.
“It’s been a while since we won it so it would be nice to do it.”
