Enda McGinley labelled the performance of Darragh and Ruairi Canavan as “magnificent” after the duo kicked 1-13 between them as Errigal Ciaran defeated Dr Crokes after extra-time in a remarkable All-Ireland Club SFC semi-final on Saturday.
The Tyrone and Ulster champions edged out the Kerry kingpins by three points in Newbridge thanks to goals from Darragh Canavan and Joe Oguz while Peter Óg McCartan landed another booming long-range point to force extra-time.
Errigal are the only Tyrone club to have won the Ulster club title and now they are the first team from the county to reach the All-Ireland Club SFC final and they’ll face Cuala of Dublin in Sunday’s decider in Croke Park.
Read more: Roisin Cryan: Tributes paid to fiancée of Mayo GAA star following tragic death
Read more: Recap as Canavan brothers fire Errigal Ciaran into All-Ireland club final after extra-time thriller
While McGinley was keen to stress the impressive workrate of his entire squad in what was an epic encounter, the brilliance of the Canavan siblings was the main talking point afterwards.
“It is a team and you do not reach this stage, don’t win anything with just a few star players,” said McGinley.
“My gosh, I thought the two boys were magnificent, particularly in the first half. They stuck at it and they were getting well marked by good players too.
“We’ve a really good team and it was the team who came through today. We’ll enjoy this evening and then we’ll get ready for the challenge in Croker next week.
“It was something else – they were looking really sharp in training and you were hoping that they were going to cut loose because they are especially talented lads. They are just driven and they are hungry for the team and they just want to work hard for the team.
“There have been other days when they’ve been quiet and other boys have stood up – maybe not so much quiet, but they’ve been more curtailed. The opposition have put in a greater effort into curtailing them.”
He added: “We’ll face a different challenge the next day because they took out today – it is going to be harder for them to do that the next day.
“That wheel will turn and we’ll see who can stand up the next day.”
Following the postponements of both semi-finals, Errigal and Cuala will have just eight days to prepare for the biggest day in the club calendar.
“It is not ideal,” stated McGinley. “It is another challenge for sure, but we’ll try and get extra recovery in the legs and try and be ready. Croke Park is a fast pitch and it takes it out of the legs.
“Our boys have obviously never played there, so it is going to be a big experience for them. A lot of my thoughts this week will be just trying to get our heads right so when we get to Croke Park, we make the most of it.”
Sign up to our free sports newsletter to get the latest headlines to your inbox