Mac's View: All-Ireland senior club final on Sunday could be special

We were treated to one of the games of the new millennium at the weekend with Tyrone side Errigal Ciaran overcoming Dr Crokes in the club semi-final in Newbridge, but only after extra-time.

Naturally, with  the Killyclogher, Tyrone blood in me and my Godmother from the Errigal Ciaran parish, I was cheering my heart out for Errigal Ciaran. You would have to feel for the Kerry side who gave everything but I do think that Errigal Ciaran were the better team.

A draw would have been fair and at another time we could have looked forward to a replay.

But with the Ulster blood in me, I was happy with the result. And what about the display of the two Canavans, Ruairi and Darragh. They are special players and there are strong traces of their father, Peter, in them. They might not be as good as their father yet, but they are catching up fast.

There is a Donegal connection  to the Errigal Ciaran side as their goalkeeper Darragh McAnenly is a cousin of Ballyshannon man, Pauric McShea.

The final promises to be something special as the Dublin side Cuala also look to be a talented team. Their semi-final in Breffni Park against Coolera-Strandhill was a bit of a disappointment, especially coming after we had watched such a thrilling contest in Newbridge.

The Sligo side were just going nowhere in the first half and couldn’t break through the Cuala defence. They raised their game a bit in the second half and got a bit of success but Cuala looked a much stronger team.

It was great to see a Sligo team reach that level and they have a very big physical presence, but just didn’t have enough ambition. The game plan they had was good enough to get them that far but they needed something else on Saturday last.

We can look forward to something special in the final in Croke Park on Sunday. The Kerry-Tyrone battle (between Errigal Ciaran and Dr Crokes) was brilliant and hopefully we can have a repeat in the final between Errigal and Cuala.

CONGRATS TO NAOMH PADRAIG

It’s hats off to Inishowen club, Naomh Padraig, Muff, on reaching the All-Ireland Junior Club final after a big battle with Cork side Kilmurry on Sunday in Parnell Park. They will be making history by becoming the first Donegal club to play a final in Croke Park. They will now meet Galway Gaeltacht side An Cheathrú Rua on Saturday week.

It is just marvellous to see such a young club like Naomh Padraig doing so well and it shows the great work that has been done by the GAA in Inishowen in the not so recent past. I remember well when there was only one GAA club in the peninsula.

Fair play to them. They needed extra-time and penalties to come through on Sunday and it has been a tough campaign, having to go to London twice either side of Christmas.

Sunday was a good day also for Donegal schools’ football with Abbey VS, Donegal Town overcoming St Colman’s of Newry to reach the last four of the MacRory Cup. There is a chance that there could be an all-Donegal semi-final with Donegal South West down to play Omagh CBS on Sunday next in Healy Park.

Beating St Colman’s is a huge achievement for the Donegal Town side and it is further testimony to the work being done by the clubs involved, especially Four Masters. I remember playing against St Colman’s in their ground at Violet Hill when I was in St Macartan’s. St Eunan’s from Letterkenny reached a couple of MacRory Cup finals around that time also in 1956 and 1961. John Wilson of Cavan was involved with them then.

The intercounty competition will soon be going again with the National League starting on Sunday week with Donegal travelling to Killarney and I had two high profile Kerry men staying in the hotel over the last week - Darragh O’Shea and Mikey Shehy.

Asking them what Donegal should expect, they felt that Kerry would be strong up front but there were question marks about their defence. They felt that the championship would be very open in 2025 and that Dublin might not get out of Leinster as easily as before with all the retirements.

I would be of the opinion that Kerry might not take the early stages of the league too seriously and I expect Jim McGuinness to have Donegal ahead of the posse as regards preparation for playing with the new rules. I’m expecting Donegal to win.

Finally, this week it was great to see former Sligo Rovers man, Johnny Kenny, making his debut for Glasgow Celtic last weekend. His grandmother would be my first cousin and I have been following his career closely.  He has done really well while out on loan at Shamrock Rovers recently. Another cousin of mine and of Kenny, Liam Kerrigan, is also doing well on the soccer scene and is currently with Belgian side Beveren.

Brian McEniff was in conversation with Peter Campbell