BY RYAN FERRY
SINEAD MacIntyre is hopeful that St Eunan’s can use last week’s Under 23 Gold Championship success as a platform to push on at senior level next year.
St Eunan’s proved much too strong for Naomh Columba and won by 7-12 to 0-8 in a performance full of athleticism, grit and clinical finishing.
The Letterkenny club have been in the senior ranks since 2021 when they won the Donegal Intermediate title.
There have been signs of progress but they failed to build on that in 2025.
Glenfin and Termon still dominate ladies football in Donegal but a cohort of their main players are now the wrong side of thirty.
The landscape could change and St Eunan’s Under 23 captain MacIntyre hopes her team can get things back on track now.
“For the last few years we had girls going away and girls not able to commit and some heading to Dublin to work.
“I think we have full commitment for next year now hopefully.
“Those (Under 23) girls will be coming through to senior now so hopefully we will have a strong senior team coming up in the next few years if all the girls stick at it.”
Anna Boyle and Laoise Ryan are the only two St Eunan’s players overage for the Under 23s next year so they have a good age profile.
Naomh Columba have had a good year at senior and minor level but they couldn’t live with St Eunan’s at times although MacIntyre felt the final result was generous to her team.
“The score definitely didn’t reflect the game.
“It was a hard fought game and weather definitely didn’t help it as well, conditions were poor.
“We pulled away well,” said the full-back, who is doing a Masters degree in Teaching through Irish in Galway.
One other striking factor in St Eunan’s victory was that their senior players Kaneisha McKinney, Naomi McMenamin, Clodagh Brennan, Catherine Fletcher and Molly Carr were part of the U23 management and helped to guide the younger players.
MacIntyre said: “They have good experience and good football knowledge so it’s good to have them and it’s good to see players get involved with the management.”
