BY RYAN FERRY
SEAN MacCumhaills manager Jamesie Donnelly lauded a ‘very sweet’ victory as his team clinched the Ulster Minor Hurling Shield title on Sunday.
The Twin Towns men have won the last three Donegal minor titles so they know the terrain well up at the annual provincial tournament in Ballinascreen.
They were beaten in last year’s Shield final by Eoghan Ruadh, Dungannon and had Tyrone opposition standing in front of them again on Sunday.
Eire Og hammered Fermanagh’s Belnaleck last week but they could only muster 1-9 on this occasion as a determined Sean MacCumhaills defence kept them at bay.
“It’s very sweet,” said Donnelly.
“We came up here with a game plan and thankfully it worked out.
“We watched Carrickmore last week and they are a serious outfit.
“They put a serious score up in their semi-final and we were aware of what they have.
“Listen, we set up ultra defensive at the start just to try and contain them but we were on it. You just know when these boys are on it and they were from early days.
“Every man worked so hard. They chased everything down.
“The target this week was if the ball was 70/30 or even 80/20, we were going to come out with it and we did today.
“Our big players stood up and we needed them.
“We lost our full-back Adam Byrne before the match and he would be an inspirational player for us.
“We had to switch things around and Tomas McNulty went into full-back and I thought he did an outstanding job for a midfielder and Dan (Donnelly) just sat that wee bit deeper.
“To win it without our best player in Jacob Malone is unbelievable really.
“That man and Dan have carried us for a long time.
“There were a lot of tears after the game but they were tears of joy and Jacob will go on to have a serious career with Donegal.
“We’re going down the road and across the bridge into Ballybofey, very, very happy men.”
The hunger MacCumhaills had could be seen in both goals they scored.
Neither would be considered a goal of the season contender but when the ball dropped, it was a MacCumhaills hurl that got there first.
“That first goal was probably 80-20 in their favour but we chased it down and got a goal out of nothing.
“They say you make your own luck and maybe so. We needed that wee bit of luck today and thankfully it went our way.
“It was probably a bit bittersweet that we finished with 14 players after losing Pauric (Kelly) but we’re delighted.
“The club needed this. The players really went after it this year. We had Ulster in our sights and we’re delighted to be Ulster Shield champions.”
