By Ryan Ferry

BARRY Meehan has given stellar service to St Eunan’s down through the years and this Sunday, he hopes to manage them to Senior Championship glory for the first time as they face Dungloe.

Twenty five years ago, Meehan scored a goal for St Eunan’s as they defeated Naomh Columba in the Junior ‘B’ Championship final.

He soon got involved with underage coaching and was at the helm for a minor championship success in 2011.

Meehan was part of Eamon O’Boyle’s backroom team in 2008 and 2009 when St Eunan’s lifted the Dr Maguire Cup and again in 2015 when Maxi Curran was the bainisteoir.

A stint as joint-manager with Eddie Brennan didn’t herald much success but Meehan continued to develop as he led St Naul’s to an Intermediate title and enjoyed a spell with Gaeil Fhánada.

He returned to O’Donnell Park as a coach last season under Rory Kavanagh, and then when a vacancy became available, he stepped into the breach as manager, along with Brendan Devenney, Kieran Sharkey, Dualtach Molloy and an extended support network.

The league was steady if unspectacular but it was always going to be about the championship and they certainly can say that they have had a challenging journey to the final.

“With the way the draw went, we felt we were one of the few teams that had jeopardy from the start really,” Meehan explained.

“We had Kilcar at home and then Naomh Conaill away. If we had lost those first two games it could have been very difficult for us.”

Despite a loss to Gaoth Dobhair, the side made it to the knock-out stages.

An open draw in the quarter-finals meant that a heavyweight contest was possible, and so it proved.

St Eunan’s were paired with defending champions Naomh Conaill, and they came through a tense encounter by a point, and then had a similar winning margin in the semi-final against Gaoth Dobhair.

“In the first half against Naomh Conaill, we were very impressive and unfortunately we haven’t been since,” said the manager.

Meehan and his backroom team got a good look at Dungloe in the semi-final, and while St Eunan’s haven’t faced the Rosses side in a few years, the manager has seen them up close on a couple of occasions.

“We watched them against St Michael’s and they were very impressive that day.

“They have excellent players. You have the three Curran brothers, and Ryan Connors at midfield.

“Conor Greene is very dangerous at full-forward and then you have Daire Gallagher and Dylan Sweeney who are lively forwards.

“I would have come across them when I was working with Fanad, and they have made a lot of progress over the last three years.”