Dublin 1-10 Donegal 0-9:NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE/Division One: This was a pale and unsatisfying encore following the high theatre these two teams served up last summer. On a gorgeous Sunday afternoon in Ballyshannon, around 4,000 spectators showed up anticipating another quality engagement between the counties.
But both sides had more prosaic concerns. Dublin travelled north to plunder points and at least achieved that. Donegal's preoccupations are of a more fragile nature, as manager Brian McEniff continues to try to work the oracle on a team whose confidence has ebbed dramatically in the close season.
At best, this was a poor game, remarkable only because it managed to provoke eight yellow cards and one straight red despite its limp and unconvincing pulse.
Dublin manager Tom Lyons's ongoing auditions of the urban hopefuls threw forth the name of Tomás Quinn as a real contender. The nimble St Vincent's man was reasonably assured in his role as Dublin free-taker and showed instinct and coolness in sliding home the 53rd-minute goal that set the visitors up.
His shot, after an intelligent, on-the-money diagonal pass from Ciarán Whelan, was the centre of a brief flurry of frantic incident. Donegal had rattled over three points in a row to level the match at 0-8 each when Johnny McGee was sent off for felling James Ruane, picking up a second yellow card.
As the home side considered how best to use their free man, Dublin were infused with a sudden energy and banged over points through Senan Connell and a Quinn free before the goal.
Suddenly, Donegal were five points adrift and were then upset by the dismissal of Kevin Cassidy in the 55th minute. The Gweedore man definitely mistimed his attempted shoulder on Barry Cahill right in front of the Dublin dug-out. Lyons, just a few feet from the challenge, was incensed by Cassidy's tackle and hotly debated his views on the incident with several Donegal players.
With a madding crowd lingering around the stricken Cahill, Cassidy, to his astonishment, was issued a red by the referee.
"It was a tight call," sighed McEniff later. "I really felt there was no need for any sending-offs because it was not a physical game. It was just handbag stuff, really."
But there was confusion as to whether Cassidy was marched for his tackle or over a contretemps with Lyons.
"There was no collision between us (Lyons and Cassidy) whatsoever," the Dublin manager maintained afterwards. "It was purely for the tackle on the player and I have no comment to make on the matter beyond that."
Both teams seemed spent for energy for a long period after Cassidy's departure, huffing through an anti-climactic final quarter before Dublin threatened a late rampage.
Michael Gurn and Eamon Doherty scrambled the ball off the goalline in injury time to avoid what would have been an embarrassing scoreline for the home side. Lyons rued the profligacy but was content with the result.
The anticipated duel between Paddy Christie and Adrian Sweeney never really materialised. The Dublin defender had a supreme afternoon bossing his own square while Sweeney suffered from being Donegal's only viable target man. His season should improve when Brendan Devenney returns.
Brian Cullen had an enjoyable hour in sky blue, floating through the gaps at the heart of the Donegal defence to pop over a couple of scores while Alan Brogan appeared as sharp yesterday as he did in mid-August. Here, he was a handful.
Yet once they established a grip on the match at the perfect stage, Dublin hung around for a worrisome time. After Christy Toye's 63rd-minute point - ending a 16-minute barren spell - Donegal were still just four points adrift. They lacked the invention and belief to mount the kind of comeback that destabilised Dublin last summer, pumping in high balls which Christie and David Henry gratefully collected.
"Ah, I think we panicked," reasoned McEniff. "We played some good first-time football for a period in the first half but then went back to the usual stuff, crowding midfield and allowing Dublin to get to the breaks.
"We have to get back to playing the long ball instead of perpetually running with it. It was disappointing but we will have to battle through this. We have another tough task ahead next week and I am not looking forward to playing against the All-Ireland champions."
Donegal football needs his soothing tones just now as it fights through a confidence crisis. They had some bright spots - big John Haran gave an honest account of himself, Damien Diver again set a ferocious work rate and Jim McGuinness, dropping back in front of his defence, did a lot of covering work. But they have a fair way to travel before it comes together.
Lyons feels the same way.
"Look, I've not changed my stall. I said we have to find new footballers and we'll probably have a different team out again next week," he vowed.
Overall these were useful auditions for Lyons and bagging away points will relieve the team of the pressure that built up after the capitulation against Armagh.
Donegal's search for the first win of the season is looking tougher, with Armagh and Kerry on the horizon.
DUBLIN: B Murphy; B Cahill, P Christie, D Henry; P Casey, J McGee, S Ryan; C Whelan, D McGee (0-1); E Crennan, B Cullen (0-2), S Connell (0-2); A Brogan, J McNally, T Quinn (1-5, 2 frees). Subs: C Moran for S Connell (60 mins), D Homan for D McGee (64 mins), P Andrews for P Casey (65 mins).
DONEGAL: T Blake; E Doherty, R Sweeney, D Diver; M Gurn, K Cassidy, N McGinley; J Ruane, J McGuinness (0-1); M Hegarty (0-2, 1 free), J Gildea, J Haran; C McFadden (0-1), A Sweeney (0-2, 1 free), J McCafferty (0-1, free). Subs: C Toye (0-2) for J McCafferty (31 mins), E Reddan for J Ruane (59 mins), B McLoughlin for C McFadden (67 mins).
Referee: M Monaghan (Kildare).
