Donegal crush feeble Cavan
17.06.11
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ANOTHER sodden Sunday,
another sub-par opponent, another win. Donegal’s
championship season continued in Breifne Park as they
dispatched a remarkably poor Cavan team to the
qualifiers, and set up a mouth watering semi final clash
with Tyrone on Sunday week. |
Team captain Michael Murphy
was red carded after 16 minutes. Donegal’s attitude was
along the lines of the king is dead, long live the king:
Murphy was hardly missed as Patrick McBrearty hit 1-3 in
his first championship start and Colm McFadden rolled
back the years as he tormented the Cavan defence.
Karl Lacey kept Cavan’s star forward Seanie Johnston in
his back pocket. Neil McGee was powerful at full back,
as was Anthony Thompson at number six. Paul Durcan and
the back eight have clearly been working hard on a kick
out strategy. The strength in depth of the Donegal squad
is becoming apparent. Dermot Molloy, dropped after poor
displays against Laois and Antrim, came in and scored
two points from play. |
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And in his after match
comments we learned that Jim McGuinness isn’t afraid to
call out the spoofers on The Sunday Game for
disrespecting Donegal players and the team as a whole.
McGuinness though will have plenty to work on between
now and Tyrone on 26 June, his team’s discipline for one
thing. Murphy’s red card was frankly ridiculous, and
will surely be rescinded on appeal. But prior to that
incident, Murphy – and not for the first time since
becoming captain this season – had been getting involved
in unnecessary pushing and shoving. And the rest of the
team weren’t too clever either, allowing Cavan to get
under their skins and getting involved in a couple of
pointless melees. No further red cards were incurred,
but Donegal will need to be more disciplined against
cuter teams than Cavan…teams like Tyrone who will
ruthlessly exploit such disciplinary weakness.
The game itself had started sluggishly. Murphy and
Johnston had exchanged frees before Cavan midfielder Ray
Cullivan got a deserved red card for a kung-fu kick to
Kevin Cassidy’s collarbone in the eighth minute. |
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Between then and Murphy’s
dismissal just eight minutes later, Cavan enjoyed their
best spell of the game and a Niall McDermott free had
them 0-2 to 0-1 ahead on ten minutes.
Both teams were employing defensive strategies, with
Donegal’s a good deal more sophisticated than Cavan’s.
The home side drafted two extra bodies into their
defence and left them there until some time in the
second half. Donegal’s is a more fluid and effective
strategy where half forwards track back into defence
when their opponents take possession. It’s built on a
high fitness level and strict adherence to the game
plan, and Cavan’s attackers were repeatedly forced to
play the ball backwards to those static extra defenders
because so many Donegal men had funnelled back into
their own defence.
The less said about Murphy’s red card the |
better: it was nothing
other than the referee even-ing things up after
Cullivan’s red card.
Cassidy picked up a yellow soon after as the ref kept
himself centre stage, but Donegal hit 1-1 in two minutes
to take a hold on the game they’d never lose.
McFadden converted a 20th minute free before McBrearty
notched up his first championship score by using his
strength to hold off a defender and win a sideline kick
from Mark McHugh. The Kilcar teenager spilled the ball
on the turn but it fell kindly and he slid it under
Cavan’s highly rated goalkeeper James Reilly.
Niall McDermott responded with a free for Cavan that was
brought forward for dissent, but two further McFadden
points, the first a superb effort from play the second a
free that he won himself, and points from Kevin Cassidy
and McBrearty had Donegal ahead by 1-6 to 0-3 at the
break.
St Eunan’s midfielder Kevin Rafferty, who improved as
the game wore on, opened the second half scoring with an
excellent score from the right wing and although Gearoid
McKiernan, one of the few Cavan players to compete well
over the 70 minutes, hit back with a point moments
later, Donegal dominated the second period more than
they had the first.
Cavan tried to be more direct, and stationed midfielder
David Givney at full forward for a period and lumped
high ball in on top of him to little effect. It was meat
and drink to Neil McGee.
Karl Lacey made several forays into attack during the
second half, the first of which set up McFadden for a
good point and Rory Kavanagh’s goal on 44 minutes, after
he had exchanged passes with McFadden and bore down on
goal, with Ryan Bradley alongside him, completely ended
the contest.
McBrearty scored his best point of the day in the 49th
minute when he won the ball on the right, skinned his
marked, and pointed from a difficult angle. He set up
McFadden for a punched point a little later as Donegal
led by 2-10 to 0-5.
And with just over 15 minutes remaining, Jim McGuinness
started emptying his bench. Leo McLoone made his return
from injury and pointed with his second touch. Dermot
Molloy came on for Ryan Bradley and he hit two points
from play to remind his manager of his eye for scores.
Big Neil Gallagher replaced Rafferty and slotted right
in – his physical strength will surely be needed in the
middle before the summer is out.
With Cavan fans streaming for the exit, points in the
last quarter from Fergal Flanagan, Michael Brennan and
Niall McDermott raised the faintest ripple of applause.
McBrearty was enjoying himself by now, picking out some
fine passes and scoring a free from the hands from
almost 50m out into the wind. He really is some talent
and it will be fascinating to see how he performs
against Tyrone.
Referee Marty Duffy was at the centre of a couple of
late incidents. Given how quick he was to show red to
Michael Murphy, he showed remarkable leniency to issue
only a yellow card to Eugene Keating for a dangerous
neck high rugby tackle on Karl Lacey. Aware of the let
off, the Cavan management immediately subbed Keating in
response.
And Cavan were awarded an injury time penalty when Paul
Durcan was adjudged to have tripped Niall McDermott in
the square after Patrick Carroll had tried to back heel
a pass on the deck into the Donegal net.
Durcan saved the penalty off Johnston, but Michael
Brennan reacted quicker than the Donegal defence and
volleyed the rebound to the net. There were few Cavan
supporters left in the ground to see the goal, but
McGuinness will have noted it as something to work on –
whether the game is already won or not, this Donegal
defence will not be beaten to a penalty rebound for the
rest of this year.
DONEGAL: Paul Durcan; Karl Lacey, Neil McGee,
Paddy McGrath; Kevin Cassidy (0-1), Anthony Thompson,
Marty Boyle; Rory Kavanagh (1-0), Kevin Rafferty (0-1);
Mark McHugh, Martin McElhinney, Ryan Bradley; Patrick
McBrearty (1-3, one free), Michael Murphy (0-1, free),
Colm McFadden (0-5, two frees). Subs: Michael Hegarty
for M McElhinney (30); Leo McLoone (0-1) for K Cassidy
(52); Dermot Molloy (0-2) for R Bradley (55); Neil
Gallagher for K Rafferty (58); David Walsh for M McHugh
(65).
CAVAN: James Reilly; Dermot Sheridan, Patrick
Carroll, Dane O’Dowd; Niall Murray, John McCutcheon,
Damien Reilly; Ray Cullivan, David Givney; Gearoid
McKiernan (0-1), Micheal Lyng, Fergal Flanagan (0-1);
Niall McDermott (0-4, 3f), Eugene Keating, Seanie
Johnston (0-1, 1f). Subs: Garrett Smith for M Lyng (44);
Mark McKeever for D Reilly (48); Thomas Corr for D
Sheridan (51); Cian Mackey for N Murray (57); Michael
Brennan (1-1) for E Keating ((62).
Referee: M Duffy (Sligo).
For full coverage of all your weekend sport, read the
Inishowen Independent. |
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