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Another win for mediocre Donegal
14.07.09
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Donegal...0-13 (M. Murphy 0-5 (4 frees); C. McFadden 0-4; C. Toye 0-2; L. McLoone 0-1, B. Dunnion 0-1) Clare...1-7 (D. Tubridy 1-4 (1 penalty, 4 frees); E. Coughlan 0-2; P. O’Dwyer 0-1) by Chris McNulty, for Inishowen Independent, at Sean Mac Cumhaill Park ANOTHER week, another win. But Saturday night saw another unconvincing display from Donegal. A start that yielded three points in as many minutes after the throw-in suggested that perhaps the failings of previous Championship outings this summer had been eradicated. Even when a shaky few moments in the first period kept a lid on that notion a similarly positive start to the second-half that saw Donegal race six points clear looked to provide the platform for a trouble-free conclusion. Yet a 30-minute scoreless period allowed Clare to come within a whisker of forcing extra-time. David Tubridy will be particularly frustrated after he was denied what looked like a good goal having being harshly penalised before he struck the back of the net. |
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For Donegal the win came at
a costly price as Christy Toye was forced out of the
action 20 minutes from the end. Toye has a serious
Achilles tendon injury and is unlikely to play football
for club or county for the rest of the year. The second-half was as bad a half of Championship football as has been seen in quite some time and rarely has Sean MacCumhaill Park seen a Donegal team looked as disjointed and sometimes uninterested as in the second-half on Saturday night. The Donegal team showed two changes to that which had been named mid-week. Michael Maguire was unfit to start with Barry Monaghan taking the place of the Naomh Columba man, who it was confirmed has a broken bone in his foot, and Colm McFadden replaced Stephen Griffin. McFadden and Donegal started well. The St Michael’s man swung over two early points, as the hosts started smartly with Barry Dunnion racing onto a neat pass from David Walsh to add another. While David Tubridy opened the Clare account with a fifth minute free, Donegal continued to press. Murphy pointed a free to restore the three-point lead before winning, and pointing another. The collective foot seemed to be eased from the throttle and Clare were afforded a path back into the contest. O’Shea fed Enda Coughlan for his first of the day, before the Banner were gifted a goal on 20 minutes. |
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Out of sorts Donegal
’keeper Paul Durcan was penalised for taking down Gary
Brennan on the edge of the square after the midfielder
beat the Four Masters man to a high ball. Tubridy
stepped up to stroke the penalty into the bottom corner.
Durcan’s nightmare evening was brought to an end when he
was replaced by Termon’s Michael Boyle at half time. Donegal got back on track after Clare’s goal. Murphy took a diagonal ball from Leo McLoone to put Donegal ahead again. Any time Donegal took the direct route Clare looked in trouble, but for some reason or the other going direct wasn’t the path used too often. Christy Toye sent a long ball for Murphy to bat down to McFadden, who didn’t need a second invitation. Toye capped off a good first-half display by scoring two points in as many minutes, charging forward from the middle to split the sticks, the first after Walsh and Dunne did the spadework; the second having played a one-two with McFadden out the right. Tubridy kept Clare in it with a free in stoppage time, but at 0-9 to 1-3 ahead at the break Donegal were fancied to press on. McFadden, Murphy and Leo McLoone (whose blistering shot went over via a deflection off the top of the crossbar) did just that in the opening five minutes of the second-half and the Clare challenge looked like it was wilting fast. Those points put Donegal six ahead. However, the home side wouldn’t score again until injury time. The fact that the scoreboard wasn’t troubled for such a lengthy spell will be a massive concern for the Donegal management, who watched Clare chip away at the lead with three points. Tubridy hit a free on 43, but the Banner shooting boots weren’t present either. It was the 67th minute before they scored again, through Enda Coughlan’s second of the game and another from Pádraig O’Dwyer, after a cleverly taken quick free, set up an interesting finish. Over six minutes of added time was played following the injury to Toye, but all that was chalked up in that period were two frees, one by Murphy and the other from Tubridy. The Clare forward ended with 1-4 to his name and can feel aggrieved not to have sent the game to an extra period. He had hit the back of the net only to be blown up by referee Martin Higgins for lifting off the ground, but most observers disagreed with the decision. But Donegal stumble on, and will face Derry in the third round of the Qualifiers on Saturday night. Donegal: Paul Durcan; Frank McGlynn, Neil McGee, Karl Lacey; Barry Dunnion, Barry Monaghan, Eamon McGee; Christy Toye, Kevin Cassidy; Rory Kavanagh, Leo McLoone, David Walsh; Conall Dunne, Michael Murphy, Colm McFadden. SUBS: Michael Boyle for Durcan (half-time); Brian Roper for Toye (48 mins); Brenda Boyle for Monaghan (57 mins); Dara Gallagher for Walsh (60 mins); Michael Hegarty for McLoone (72 mins). Clare: Dermot O’Brien; Laurence Healy, Conor Whelan, Martin McMahon; Gordon Kelly, Kevin Dilleen, Graham Kelly; Ger Quinlan, Gary Brennan; Enda Coughlan, David Russell, Seán Collins; Michael O’Shea, Frank O’Dea, David Tubridy. SUBS: Peter O’Dwyer for O’Dea (26 mins); Cathal O’Connor for O’Shea (half-time); Pádraig McMahon for Collins (52 mins); Liam Markham for Graham Kelly (62 mins). Referee: Martin Higgins (Fermanagh). For full coverage of all your weekend sport, read the Inishowen Independent. |
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