Dublin 2-8 Donegal 0-14
An injury time point from Donegal sharp shooter Adrian Sweeney earned Mickey Moran’s side another crack at Dublin after both sides fought out a thrilling draw in the Bank of Ireland football quarter-final at Croke Park this afternoon.
Dublin, whose manager Tommy Lyons was absent after being hospitalised on Saturday with a reported stomach upset, squandered a three point lead in the dying minutes to gift determined Donegal another championship day out.
Donegal suffered an early blow when centre-back Barry Monaghan was forced off with an apparent groin injury. His substitute, Damien Diver, made an immediate impact by scoring a point to cancel out Shane Ryan’s 13th minute opener for Dublin.
The Dubs were forced into an early substitution of their own when defender Paul Casey limped off injured. Darren Magee was drafted from the bench as cover. With Dublin re-shapping, the menacing Sweeney and Brendan Devenney combined to trouble the Dublin full back line and captain Coman Goggins in particular.
But Dublin shrugged aside their sluggish start to regain the lead in the 17th minute when full forward Ray Cosgrove broke through the challenges of two defenders to beat Donegal ‘keeper Tony Blake with a well placed finish.
Senan Connell extended Dublin’s advantage before Donegal pulled level again through Diver and a Jim McGuinness free. Dublin were subsequently forced into swapping their corner backs after Sweeney led Goggins a merry dance to reclaim the lead with a beautiful score off his left foot.
Dublin’s young star Alan Brogan remained composed in the dying stages of the first half to beat Raymond Sweeney and fire home a long range point while at the other end Devenney should have found the net after accelerating past Paddy Christie only to slice his effort off his boot. Dublin changed the lead for the fourth time with an injury time Cosgrove free to lead 1-4 to 0-6 at half-time.
The second half was as eventful as the first and the lead once again yo-yoed between the sides. Dublin’s 20-year-old netminder Stephen Cluxton made a splendid save to deny Devenney a goal after the restart but the ball rebounded to Sweeney who fired over the bar.
In their last two championship outings, the Dublin full forward line has thrilled the Hill with their guile but Donegal’s resolute defence blanketed that prowess on this occassion. A shake up of personnel was needed and it came with the introduction midway through the half of former captain Dessie Farrell and Hill 16 favourite Jason Sherlock - who replaced Connell and Colin Moran respectively.
The duo’s introduction added verve and penetration to what had been a tiring outlet. Donegal had played with tremendous determination and ferocity throughout but their impact on the game began to wilt under renewed Dublin pressure in the final quarter.
A superb individual point from midfielder Ciaran Whelan cancelled out a Devenney free to leave the sides level once again with 10 minutes remaining. Dublin could have finished off the game in the 61st minute but for Donegal ‘keeper Blake to unknowingly head a dropping ball of the goal line and away from the lurking Sherlock and Cosgrove.
Sherlock was proving a tricky customer for Donegal and he dispossessed Raymond Sweeney carrying the ball from defence and flicked a deft pass into Cosgrove’s path. The Kilmacud Crokes star remained composed as he side footed the ball past Blake for the second time.
The capital side were now three points up and just six minutes from a place in the semi-final but lapses in concentration gifted Donegal their lifeline. First, Paul McGonigle booted over and then Sweeney added two more quick scores, his second a fisted effort in injury-time, to rescue the tie and secure a quarter-final replay with Tommy Lyons’ side on Saturday, August 17th.