Donegal 1-25 Derry 1-15
Donegal are up and running. And running. And running.
Kicking occasionally too. Handpassing, naturally and according to their heritage. They spread a 1-25 total around 11 different scorers, four of them sallying up from defence. Dáire Ó Baoill swished a goal and a couple of two-pointers in a seven-minute period towards the end of the first half, Patrick McBrearty kicked six points in the second.
Smush it all into the mix and Derry were gradually ushered to the door, like pub bores who’d lost an argument. All the fizz and promise they seemed to hold this time last year has evaporated. Paddy Tally’s side were reduced to a series of flailing potshots – their final six wides were all two-point attempts, one as harmless as the next.
“That was a very important part of the game for us,” said Jim McGuinness afterwards. “We knew that we had to defend really well in the second half and we knew we had to have a lot of energy for those two-pointers. They did have a lot of attempts but there was a lot of energy stepping towards the ball which was a very, very important part of it.
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“We’re absolutely delighted to get out of Ballybofey with the victory. Once you can progress to the next round, that’s all that matters. I was speaking to my wife last night and she was asking me how I feel about the game and I said, ‘If we can get out of Ballybofey with a one-point victory I’ll be the happiest man in Donegal. That’s what the Ulster Championship is.‘”
Ulster gonna Ulster. Some of this was played out as if in silent protest against the new rules, particularly early on. There wasn’t a single solo-and-go in the entire first half. Donegal turned down a couple of two-point frees in that period even though they had the wind at their backs.
For the first 25 minutes, it was as though both teams were sending a message – you can sing Imagine on a Zoom call with Jim Gavin all you like but you’re in Ballybofey. This is still the Ulster Championship, hi.
It was 0-5 apiece with 10 minutes to go until the break and Derry, who had won the toss and decided to play against the wind, were delighted with life. They could even have been ahead, only that Shaun Patton got down to make a blinding double save from Shane McGuigan’s penalty on nine minutes.
Donegal had to get motoring somehow and it was Ó Baoill who took it upon himself. Twice he found space at the top right of the arc and used the breeze to curl in a two-pointer. In between, McBrearty and Michael Murphy tapped over frees and just like that, Donegal were six ahead.
Derry put up a small spurt of resistance when Dan Higgins shuttled through the middle of Donegal’s defence to nail their goal soon after. McGuinness was understandably aggrieved afterwards – centre back Caolan McGonagle was off the pitch at the time, receiving treatment for a calf injury.
But Derry’s uptick in optimism lasted all of 90 seconds – Conor O’Donnell replied with a point before Ó Baoill struck for the Donegal goal. It was a terrific effort too, scything through on the break, using Conor O’Donnell to his right by not using him at all and finishing low to Neil McNicholl’s bottom corner.
It meant that Donegal led 1-12 to 1-5 at half-time. Was it a seven-point wind? Maybe, if you were talking about two equally matched teams. But even though Derry came out and almost immediately reduced the gap to two through Brendan Rodgers and Conor Doherty, you never truly got the sense that Donegal were in danger.
After Rodgers landed his second two-pointer of the day on 39 minutes, Donegal basically shrugged and reeled off the next seven scores in a row. Three of them came from their defenders sprinting eyeballs-out down the left flanks – Ciarán Moore, Peadar Mogan and Finnbarr Roarty all emptying themselves to raise white flags on the run.
“We just couldn’t get hands on the ball,” said Tally of Derry’s second half. “It just wasn’t good enough. At this level of football, this is where you’re going to be found out. And we were found out today.”
His team had essentially nothing in response and didn’t kick a score from play for almost half an hour. By contrast, Donegal got McBrearty humming and an otherwise quiet Murphy got his eye in. They were also able to bring Jason Magee in off the bench after a long absence, to huge acclaim among the 15,105 crowd.
They go on to meet Monaghan in Clones in a fortnight, where they will surely get a sterner test. For now, they can do no more than they did.
Donegal: Shaun Patton; Finnbarr Roarty (0-0-1), Brendan McCole, Ciaran Moore (0-0-2); Ryan McHugh (0-0-1), Caolan McGonagle, Peadar Mogan (0-0-2); Hugh McFadden, Odhran McFadden-Ferry; Dáire Ó Baoill (1-2-0), Ciarán Thompson, Shane O’Donnell (0-0-2); Michael Murphy (0-0-2, 1f), Conor O’Donnell (0-0-2), Patrick McBrearty (0-0-7, 3f). Subs: Mark Curran for McFadden-Ferry, half-time; Oisin Gallen (0-0-1) for C O’Donnell, 51 mins; Jamie Brennan (0-0-1) for McBrearty, 58 mins; Jason Magee for McFadden, 60 mins; Niall O’Donnell for Roarty, 66 mins
Derry: Neil McNicholl; Diarmuid Baker, Brendan Rodgers (0-2-1), Martin Bradley; Conor Doherty (0-1-0), Pádraig McGrogan (0-0-1), Eoin McEvoy; Conor Glass, Dan Higgins (1-0-0); Ethan Doherty, Paul Cassidy, Ciarán McFaul; Niall Toner (0-0-1), Shane McGuigan (0-0-4, 4f), Lachlan Murray (0-0-2, 1f). Subs: Niall Loughlin for Higgins, 38 mins; Cahir McMonagle for Toner, 52 mins; Patrick McGurk for E Doherty, 57 mins; Declan Cassidy for McGrogan, 67 mins
Referee: Brendan Cawley (Kildare)
