St Eunan's GAA

St Eunan's GAA

CLG Naomh Adhamhnáin
Founded:	1930
County:	Donegal
Nickname:	Eunans, The Black and Amber, The Cathedral Town Men
Colours:	Amber and Black
Grounds:	O'Donnell Park
Coordinates:	54°56′43.35″N 7°45′09.13″W
Playing kits
Standard colours
Senior Club Championships
All Ireland Ulster champions Donegal champions Football: - - 16 Hurling: - - 2 Ladies' football: – 4 13

St Eunans GAA ( YOO-nən; or Naomh Adhamhnáin) is a dual club which plays hurling and Gaelic football. Its home ground is O'Donnell Park in Letterkenny. It fields 35 teams, making it the biggest club in its county.

One of the strongholds of Gaelic football in County Donegal, the club has won the joint most Donegal Senior Football Championship titles (along with Gaoth Dobhair, which has also won 15). Considered Donegal's most prolific club, it is renowned for its conveyor belt-like consistency in producing players of senior inter-county quality, including numerous All-Ireland winners. Also renowned for its success at minor level, the club has won 19 minor football championships, with 3 minor championship wins and four final appearances in the four years from 2015 to 2018 they have toured abroad, particularly the United States in 1969 and 1998, and Glasgow in 1977. In 1980, it received an All-Ireland Club of the Year Award, at a ceremony in Ballsbridge, Dublin.

It has a long-running boundary dispute with neighbouring club Letterkenny Gaels, which was founded in 1996 and has competed only in the Donegal Junior Football Championship. An agreement was signed between the two clubs that there would be no boundaries within the Town; however, this has not stopped Letterkenny Gaels in its pursuit of dividing the town along parish lines.

History

The club has won a total of 15 Donegal Senior Football Championship titles, the latest of which came on 2 November 2021, a comprehensive 1–11 to 0–4 victory against fierce rival Naomh Conaill in the final at MacCumhaill Park, Ballybofey.

The club is the most successful in the county at underage football, with more than fifty underage championships at under-14, under-16 and under-18 grades, as well as various under-13 and under-15 óg sport successes.

Early days

Frank "Steve" Donohoe and Mickey McGovern formed a club called the "Fag a Bailes" in 1917 during a meeting at McGovern's Public House on Letterkenny's Lower Main Street. This club would be important to the proper establishment of Gaelic football in East Donegal. The town's first Gaelic football playing field was located where Scoil Colmcille, Letterkenny currently is. Also in the team of that era were goalkeeper Johnny McClean and Fr John McMonagle of Glencar, who played at midfield. Letterkenny's next clubs were the Geraldines (established in 1924) and Letterkenny Rovers. Letterkenny Rovers won the town's first Donegal Senior Football Championship in 1927—beating Carrigans in a final uniquely held at Newtowncunningham—with a field selected, goalposts erected and admission fee of 6d.

1930–1947

1930 brought the foundation of the current club, with Geraldines and Rovers fading away. Glencar was the location of the club's first playing pitch. In its first year of existence the club reached the final of the 1930 Donegal Senior Football Championship, losing to Dungloe by a scoreline of 3–2 to 2–3. The club purchased the grounds for O'Donnell Park for £300 in the 1930s. The ground opened on Sunday 2 May 1937, when a hurling match between Donegal and Antrim and a football match between Donegal and Armagh were divided by an address from GAA president R. O'Keeffe, and all were preceded by the Most Rev. Dr. McNeely, Bishop of Raphoe's Blessing of the Park. By the mid-1940s, it was Letterkenny's only GAA club—having also seen off both St Pat's and St Columba's—and the team reached the final of the Donegal Senior Football Championship in 1944, 1946 and 1947, losing to the four-in-a-row invincibles from Gaoth Dobhair.

1948–1969

The club won their first Donegal Senior Football Championship in 1948, defeating old nemesis and previously invincible Gaoth Dobhair by a scoreline of 1–7 to 2–1. The club made the final again in 1949, 1950, 1951 and 1952, eventually winning their second title in 1956, beating Ballyshannon by a scoreline of 0–8 to 1–2. In 1960 the club beat Gaoth Dobhair in the final again, this time by a scoreline of 0–11 to 0–3. In 1967 the club beat St Joseph's by a scoreline of 1–13 to 1–9, and beat the same team again in 1969, by a scoreline of 0–10 to 1–4 on that occasion.

1970s–1990s

In 1972 the club beat Clan na nGael—a previous incarnation of Four Masters—by a scoreline of 2–12 to 1–8 in the final at MacCumhaill Park in Ballybofey.

There followed a lull, broken in 1983, when the club defeated Ard an Rátha in the final by a scoreline of 0–8 to 0–3. There would be no further senior titles until 1999. The club fielded an ineligible player against Aodh Ruadh in the 1997 senior final, and were subsequently disqualified from the competition. The title was won on the pitch but taken away in the boardroom in controversial circumstances. The player in question had played championship football in America earlier in the year and despite St Eunan's being given the all-clear to field him the County title was subsequently stripped from the club. The club roared back against Aodh Ruadh in the 1999 final, with Brendan Devenney broke Martin McHugh's record by scoring 0–14 of his team's 1–19 to their opponents' 1–11.

21st-century

In the 2001 championship final the club defeated Four Masters by a scoreline of 1–10 to 0–8. In the 2006 final Gaoth Dobhair beat them by 1–6 to 0–4 In 2007 they beat local rivals Glenswilly by a scoreline of 0–12 to 1–3. In 2008 they beat Termon, their neighbours on the other side of town, by a scoreline of 2–13 to 1–8 and went on to win a match in the Ulster Senior Club Football Championship for the first time, defeating Clonoe O'Rahilly's of Tyrone, the county that had just won that year's All-Ireland title, in the quarter-final. The 2008 team were the first from Donegal to win a match in the Ulster Club SFC for five years. However, Crossmaglen Rangers knocked them out in the semi-final. In 2009 the club achieved the three-in-a-row, defeating Naomh Conaill by a scoreline of 0–13 to 0–6. They would beat the same team in the 2012 final. 2011 brought minor football and hurling titles; in the football, they defeated Ardara 3–7 to 0–3, with Sean McBride, Lee McMonagle and Callum Keaveney getting the goals, while, in the hurling, they made history in July by winning their first ever minor hurling title, defeating Burt in a great contest highlighted by a stunning goal from Kevin Meehan. In 2013, a player was rushed to hospital with serious injuries sustained during a game against Naomh Conaill. They beat Glenswilly again in the 2014 final.

2012 season

Eunan's were crowned Donegal Senior Football Champions in 2012. The decisive goal in the final was scored by young Lee McMonagle in the 50th minute of the game, following a layoff from full-forward Ross Wherity, who received the ball via a long pass from Rory Kavanagh. The teams were level on many occasions until Mark McGowan scored the winning point in freak circumstances. Brendan McDyre of opponents Naomh Conaill attempted to backpass to his goalkeeper Stephen McGrath only for the ball to drift out for a '45'. McGowan stepped up to punish. As the game ended he was photographed celebrating—stooped, wild-eyed with open mouth, sweat-soaked, bare thighs tensed, veins throbbing, mud-stained legs apart and clenched fists turned upwards.

2014 season

The club secured a 15th Donegal Senior Football Championship on 2 November 2014 against local rivals Glenswilly at MacCumhaill Park, Ballybofey, a 0–9 to 0–6 win, with John Haran at 38 years old putting in a man-of-the-match performance in the middle of the field. Manager was Maxi Curran, who was the first manager outside the club's membership in its history.

The under-21 side defeated a Cill Chartha team, with a flurry of late goals in the final of the Donegal Under-21 Football Championship leading to a scoreline of 3–12 to 1–15.

The club's hurlers won their first Donegal Under-16 Hurling Championship title, defeating Buncrana in the final. The under-15 boys experienced both county and provincial success in the seven-a-side og sport tournament. The club's footballers won the Donegal Under-13 Football championship.

2015 season

The under-14 hurlers and footballers both did the double in league and championship. The under-14 footballers won the Feile All-Ireland. The under-14 hurlers won the Feile Shield All-Ireland Title. The under-14 camogie team won the county title and All-Ireland Feile shield. The under-16 and minor footballers won county championships, with wins over Seán Mac Cumhaills and Naomh Conaill respectively.

The club's hurlers won their first Donegal Under-21 Hurling Championship, defeating Setanta.

2016 season

The under-16 footballers won both county (defeating Seán Mac Cumhaills) and provincial titles (defeating Warrenpoint in Dromore 6–10 to 1–6).

2017 season

The club's minor and under-14 footballers both won county championships on September 16, with the club's minor team comfortably beating Cill Chartha by a scoreline of 5–10 to 1–8 and the club's under-14 team accounting for An Clochán Liath by a scoreline of 3-12 to 1-6.

2018 season

The under-21 footballers defeated Glenfin by 5–11 to 1–8 to win the Donegal Under-21 Football Championship.

The under-21 hurlers defeated Buncrana to win the club's second Donegal Under-21 Hurling Championship.

The minor footballers won a record 19th Minor Football Championship, and a third in four years, with a 3–14 to 1–7 victory over Naomh Padraig from Muff under the floodlights in Convoy. The minor hurlers won the Donegal Minor Hurling Championship, defeating An Clochán Liath in the final. The minor ladies' team defeated a Moville side going for minor title number six-in-a-row in a high-scoring game at MacCumhaill Park.

2020s

Ahead of the 2020 season, John Haran, winner of 8 Donegal Senior Football Championships with the club, was named as the club's chairman after five years as the club's vice-chairman. Conall Dunne also took over as treasurer. In November 2020, Rory Kavanagh was appointed manager of the club's senior team, and he won the Co Senior Championship in his first year in charge in 2021.

Notable players

Managers

Chairmen

The following men have been chairman of the club.

Other

• Michael Houston, former manager
• Michael McGeehin, former coach

Honours

Individual

John Horan gave Fergus Mac Aoidh a GAA President's Award in 2021.