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Derry dash Donegal’s Ulster
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Derry outscore Donegal by
ten points to five in dismal second half Donegal...1-12 C. McFadden 0-6 (3 frees); M. Murphy 1-1 (penalty goal); R. Kavanagh 0-2; B. Monaghan 0-1; K. Cassidy 0-1; D. Walsh 0-1. Derry...1-14 P. Bradley 0-10 (6 frees); E. Bradley 1-1; C. Gilligan 0-2 (2 frees); E. Muldoon 0-1 (1 free). by Damian Dowds, Inishowen Independent, at Seán MacCumhaill Park DONEGAL exited the Ulster senior football championship when they came up two points short against Derry in Ballybofey on Sunday. Having led by three points against the out of sorts visitors at half-time, Donegal extended that to four early in the second half, but a barren spell when they failed to score for 26 minutes allowed Derry to gain the upper hand and unlike the league games against Kerry and Galway, there was to be no late winner for the home side. |
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Derry had been extremely
wasteful in the first half hitting 11 wides to Donegal’s
two and had it not been for a rather fortuitous goal
from Eoin Bradley, Donegal would have been out of sight
by the break. However, Enda Muldoon split the posts for a superb point within a minute of the restart and that signalled Derry would be a different prospect in the second half. And so it proved: Derry hit ten points and only three wides to Donegal’s five points and six wides. By full time, few Donegal supporters among the 17,237 attendance could dispute that that better team had won. In keeping with the low-key build up to the game, Donegal received a muted welcome while the Derry supporters gave their side a more hearty welcome. Both sides showed one change in their line-ups, with Barry Monaghan coming in for the injured Paddy McDaid for the Donegal men and Francis McEldowney replacing |
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Sean Martin Lockhart for
Derry. McDaid’s absence caused a reshuffle in the Donegal defence. Monaghan filled in at centre back with Eamon McGee going back to the corner. Championship debutant David Walsh opened the scoring when he exchanged passes wit Christy Toye in the fourth minute and Colm McFadden doubled Donegal’s tally two minutes later. Two points from Paddy Bradley drew Derry level by the ninth minute, but they were guilty of a number of poor wides. They got a break they scarcely deserved when Eamon McGee dropped a speculative high ball and Eoin Bradley caught and turned in one motion and placed it under Paul Durcan and into the net to make it 1-2 to 0-2 in the 12 minute. Points from captain Kevin Cassidy and two from Colm McFadden (the second particularly well worked when Michael Murphy palmed a Christy Toye lob into McFadden’s path) drew Donegal level in the 21st minute. Derry’s much-vaunted midfield of Joe Diver and Fergal Doherty were being outplayed by their Donegal counterparts, with Neil McGee dominant. Half forwards Christy Toye and especially Rory Kavanagh also won a lot of high ball as Derry struggled in the sector. Donegal’s goal came courtesy of a Michael Murphy penalty on the half hour. Christy Toye was upended on the fringes of the parallelogram and Murphy blasted to the right of John Deighan in the Derry goal to put Donegal a goal clear. Punched points from Colm McFadden and Rory Kavanagh, a frees from Conleth Gilligan and Paddy Bradley concluded the first half scoring, with Donegal leading by 1-7 to 1-4 at the short whistle. Enda Muldoon knocked over a super point a minute after the restart, but two Colm McFadden frees had Donegal 1-9 to 1-5 in front by the 38th minute. Two Paddy Bradley points and one from his brother Eoin reduced Derry’s deficit to a single point, but Donegal reasserted themselves with two points within 30 seconds. First, Michael Murphy turned and twisted his way through the Derry defence to score the point of the day off the outside of his right foot, and that was followed moments later when Barry Monaghan scored from 35m out. Donegal should have drove on to victory from there, but they inexplicably failed to score for 26 minutes until Rory Kavanagh pointed in the 70th minute. With Paddy Bradley having converted a close in free, referee Marty Duffy awarded Derry a free kick on the sideline in the 47th minute when he judged a Donegal sideline kick hadn’t travelled the required 13m. With a Derry player also within 13m of the kicker, Duffy should have awarded a throw-in. It was a blatantly incorrect decision and Donegal paid the price. As it was, Derry had the free and Conleth Gilligan – who was about to be substituted – scored from put the minimum between the teams. Derry manager Paddy Crozier then elected to leave Gilligan on the field and withdrew Paul Murphy instead. Duffy and his fellow officials also failed to see Fergal Doherty felling Rory Kavanagh in the middle of the park and took no action against the Bellaghy man. Indeed, the subs Derry introduced early in the second half – Paul Cartin and James Conway – contributed handsomely to Derry’s cause. The same could not have been said for Donegal subs Brian Roper and Kevin Rafferty who were all but anonymous. The Donegal defence was wilting under the hot sun and manager Brian McIver evidently felt he had no defensive replacements from within his 15 substitutes. Donegal conceded a number of poor frees, and compounded these tired mistakes by arguing with the referee who promptly brought the frees closer to goal. Paddy Bradley took full advantage of these, hitting four points – three frees – to put Derry three up. Rory Kavanagh got a late consolation point for Donegal, and Colm McFadden’s late chance went out for a 45. Donegal got late goals from similar positions against Kerry and Galway in the league, but when McFadden lobbed the 45 into the parallelogram Enda Muldoon rose highest to claim the ball as the referee sounded the long whistle. Club championship takes centre stage in Donegal over the coming weeks. The All-Ireland qualifier will be on 17 July against as yet undetermined opposition. But unless McIver and his management team adopt a more imaginative selection and substitution policy, Donegal’s involvement in the championship will be short. Donegal: Paul Durcan; Karl Lacey, Neil McGee, Eamon McGee; Frank McGlynn, Barry Monaghan, Barry Dunnion; Kevin Cassidy, Neil Gallagher; Christy Toye, Michael Hegarty, Rory Kavanagh; Michael Murphy, Colm McFadden, David Walsh. Subs: Brian Roper for M. Hegarty (54 mins); Kevin Rafferty for C. Toye (56 mins). Derry: John Deighan; Kevin McGuckin, Kevin McCloy, Francis McEldowney; Gerard O’Kane, Niall McCusker, Michael McIver; Fergal Doherty, Joe Diver; Mark Lynch, Paul Murphy, Enda Muldoon; Conleth Gilligan, Paddy Bradley, Eoin Bradley. Subs: Paul Cartin for M. McIver (half-time); James Conway for P. Murphy (49 mins); Colin Devlin for M. Lynch (58 mins); For full coverage of all your weekend sport, read the Inishowen Independent. |
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