By Matthew Wilson
Naomh Pádraig Uisce Chaoin star Rhíana McColgan expressed her delight at clinching the Junior ‘A’ title on Sunday following a fine victory over Sean MacCumhaills at O’Donnell Park.
The Maurice McMenamin Memorial Park side produced a superb display at the Letterkenny venue to claim the silverware, with three second half goals helping them to record a convincing victory.
“I think we all really pulled together. We had a bit of heartbreak two years ago here against Downings”, said McColgan.
“We knew that they were the standard that we wanted to work towards and that’s what we’ve been working on over the last year.
“We were unlucky last year to go out in the semi-finals. But I think we put ourselves in a good position this year to try to win the Junior A title.”
The Inishowen club held a seven-point cushion at the midway point of this encounter and will have been pleased with their overall display in Act One.
The Twin Towns side would have felt they were still in contention at the short whistle, but a pair of quick-fire goals from Ava Walsh after the restart left Naomh Pádraig Uisce Chaoin in a commanding position.
It was two crucial scores in the contest as McColgan knew that Sean MacCumhaills wouldn’t be going down without a fight.
“Fair play to Ava (Walsh), she always managed to pull something out of the box. Going in at half-time, we knew that MacCumhaills don’t lie down easily.
“We watched them in the semi-finals against Urris and I’ve played with Katie (Dowds) and Abigail (Temple Asokuh) for a long time, I know those girls never go down easy.”
As McColgan mentioned, the group suffered disappointment in the decider two years ago when Downings got the better of them.
That hurt may have been driving the side onin the time since and they’ll be delighted to have gotten their hands on the silverware on Sunday.
The win certainly means a lot to the group and the midfielder discussed that the group are now determined to advance as far as possible as they shift their focus to Ulster.
“It makes us realise that we are just as important and we can do just as much as the men’s team. They’ve been so successful and they set such a good example.
“My brother was on the junior team that went the whole way to the All-Ireland Final and he was an inspiration for me.
“It made us feel that we can go that far. Even Downings two years ago, look how far they got. Barney Curran had them drilled into the ground, I’ve played under him and he knows what to do.
“I feel like a lot of us are coming with that experience of knowing what it takes so we’re really going to push and see how far we can get.”