Donegal 0-14 Shannon Blues 3-10
There was plenty of talking points to keep the punters going
for the week following this highly anticipated game. Unfortunately most of it will have little to
do with the football itself. There were
three sendings off, and probably should have been more following a melee just
before half time. The game was testy throughout
and the Blues came out on the winning end having played the last 20 minutes or
so with 11 men to Donegal’s 12.
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| Tony McCleneghan tries to move Donegal forward. |
The Blues pulled away into a four points to one lead before the
first incident. Emlyn Mulligan and Trevor
Wallace had each been shown a yellow card after the two got into a tangle off
the ball, and shortly afterwards both walked following an off the ball incident
about which referee Mairtin Mannion consulted with the umpires at that end of
the field. Barry Dwyer, who lined out at
center forward for the Blues was in fine form, full of energy and running and a
goal and two points to his name in the early going, the goal followed a Guthrie
run through the middle. Paudi O’Shea put
a lovely effort over the bar from out on the wing and the Blues were most definitely
in the ascendancy. Kieran Hurley added a
second goal for the Blues shortly afterwards, and the champions were firmly in
control.
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| Darrren Wallace recovered from this tumble to set up a point for Kieran Hurley. |
Donegal managed to gain a foothold and scores came from Rory
Dunleavy, Mal McDermott, and Eunan Doherty.
The testy nature of the encounter continued though, and eventually the
niggling between Darragh Roche and Conor Burke, who had come on as sub, flared up
just before the break. While not all
players were involved there was more than enough to keep the referee and
linesman conferring for several minutes.
Eventually, and half time was blown with no cards shown and the Blues
ahead by 2-8 to 0-8.
In an effort to cool things down the teams were asked to
gather their players and remind them to focus on the football before the
restart. Donegal almost pulled a goal
back, however, Paddy McAleer’s shot came off the crossbar and Gavin Gallagher
tidied up with a point. A McDermott free
reduced the deficit to 4 points, and then the Blues Kieran Hurley was shown a
second yellow for his challenge on the Donegal keeper who had just gathered a
high ball. Rory Kavanagh added another
Donegal point and things were set up for a grand finale with a goal in it and
Donegal with a one man advantage.
The Blues had other ideas.
Greg Horan scored a cracking goal reminiscent of Eoin Mulligans for
Tyrone against Dublin 10 years ago.
Horan sold two dummies before firing the ball into the roof of the net
from outside the 14. The Blues had the
adrenalin coursing through the veins now, Conor Mullen casually slotted over
from distance and Conor Jordan made it an eight point difference with the game
entering the end stages. Donegal heads
were down and some late points improved the scoreline but made no change to the
outcome. A great win for the Blues
coming into the second half of the championship, and for Donegal a time to regroup.
Donegal: J. Nockor,
S. Doherty, M. Canny, T. McCleneghan, D. Green, G. Gallagher, M. Smyth, R.
Kavanagh, R. Dunleavey, M. McDermott, E. Doherty, P. McBride, E. Mulligan. Blues:
D. O’Brien, T. Wallace, C. Jordan, P. O’Shea, T. Grey, L. O’Connell, W.
Guthrie, G. Horan, D. Wallace, B. Dwyer, D. McElligott, D. Roche, K. Hurley.
By Rory O'Donnell
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