Cavan Gaels had to battle hard to contain a determined St Eunan's, Letterkenny in this Ulster club senior football championship first-round game at Breffni Park yesterday.

The closing stages proved competitive as the Donegal champions pressed hard for the vital scores. However, all they could manage was a point from a free by Brendan Devenny.

Cavan Gaels' Micky Graham, and Damian Daly of St Eunan's were dismissed in the final quarter after an off-the-ball incident.

St Eunan's were guilty of over-indulging in their close-passing style and paid the ultimate price as their attacks invariably broke down. In contrast, Cavan Gaels took their scoring opportunities when presented. The teams were level three times in the first half including the interval at which stage it was 0-6 each.

Cavan Gaels took the initiative in the early minutes of the second half with points from Cormac Nelligan and Niall Collins. Devenny kept the St Eunan's hopes alive with a point entering the final quarter.

With the game still very much in the melting pot, Cavan Gaels midfielder Enda King, who was also man of the match, scored what proved to be the decisive point for the Cavan team.

St Eunan's battled hard but despite a lot of pressure their only score during a 16-minute spell was Devenny's point.

CAVAN GAELS: J Graham; S McGlade, D Rabbit, F Brady; K Crotty, E Reilly, J Doonan; C Collins, E King (0-1); C Nelligan (0-2), M Leddy, D Reilly (0-1); P O'Donnell (0-1), M Graham (0-1), N Collins (0-3). Subs: P Smith for P O'Donnell; D Buggy for D Reilly;

ST EUNAN'S: T Blake; J Scanlon, A McCafferty, D McGinley(0-1); D McCafferty, M Crossan, B Roche; K Rafferty, P Crampsey; D Daly, S O'Donnell, R Kavanagh (0-1); B Kilcoyne (0-1), B Devenny (0-5), K Winston. Subs: J Horan for P Crampsey; C Dunn for K Winston; B McBrearty for T Blake.

Referee: J McKee (Armagh)