All County League Division 1  

Ardara secure valuable points  

Ardara  1-13

St Eunan’s  2-07 

Ardara had three points to spare over St Eunan’s at Pearse Memorial Park on Sunday afternoon as the hosts grabbed two crucial league points.

One week after suffering a painful championship exit at the hands of Killybegs; Patrick ‘Larry’ Gallagher’s men showed a greater hunger over the course of the hour and fully deserved their victory.  

Both sides wee decimated by injury and absence, as a number of the teams’ younger brigade decided to venture to the Oxygen music festival instead. St Eunan’s had to take to the field with six of their Reserves – who had previously played out an entertaining 0-11 to 0-11 draw with their Ardara counterparts.  

Conall Dunne opened the scoring for St Eunan’s but Ardara hit back with three unanswered scores as Stephen Gildea, Stephen McHugh and Kenneth Doherty all found the target.  

Paddy Rafferty pulled one back for St Eunan’s to reduce the deficit to just one prior to the quarter hour mark. But Ardara were soon playing catch-up as the Letterkenny side snatched the game’s opening goal.  

Ardara ‘keeper Joe Doherty did well to initially block Dunne’s effort but Sean McVeigh was on hand to follow it up and blast home. Gildea and Dunne exchanged frees before the hosts bagged their own goal with an excellent interchange of play.  

Ciaran Gallagher and McHugh linked well, and the latter showed quick presence of mind to thread Kevin Byrne through to net after ‘Red’ had been initially fouled.  

Dunne and Austin Marren cancelled out another brace from Gildea to trail by a single point at half time on a scoreline of 1-6 to 1-5.  

Gldea picked up where he left off right at the start of the second as he sliced over, and that was quickly followed by efforts from Noel Gallagher, Byrne and Doherty. Ciaran Gallagher and Ciaran Doherty both hit the target immediately after before Gildea further added to his handsome tally. 

Seven minutes from the end St Eunan’s were thrown a life line when they were awarded a penalty after Dunne had been brought down inside the square. The county man dusted himself off and coolly sent Joe Doherty the wrong way.  

Kenneth Doherty and Ciaran Doherty both pointed late on, but it was Ardara that held on for the win. 

Ardara: Joe Doherty; Paddy McGrath: Declan Gavigan: Oisin O’Donnell; Stephen Boyle: Paddy McGrath: Kevin Byrne (1-1); Francis Diver: Kenneth Doherty (0-3);  Ciaran Gallagher (0-1): Damien Diver: Peter McHugh: Stephen Gildea (0-6): Stephen McHugh (0-1): Jimmy O’Connell  

Subs: Noel Gallagher for F Diver, Don Early for O’Donnell.  

St Eunan’s: Damien Martin; Niall McCafferty: Michael Martin: Eddie Brennan; Caolan Ward: Adrian McClafferty: Ciaran Doherty (0-2) John Haran: Sean Hensey: Brian McDermott: Conall Dunne (1-3): Austin Marron (0-1): Sean McVeigh (1-0): Brendan Devenney: Paddy Rafferty (0-1) 

Subs: Chris O’Dowd for Devenney, Cathal Roche for Dunne.  

Referee: Pat Walsh (Bundoran).