Donegal 1-13 Connemara Gaels 2-12
Donegal and the Gaels served up a cracker of a game to make
for a tremendously exciting finale to the day on Sunday. Donegal had added Ger Brennan of Dublin fame
as well as Derry’s Eoin and Paddy Bradley to the ranks. It was the proverbial game of two halves with
the Gaels lording it over their opponents in the first and Donegal controlling
the second. It seemed as the Gaels had
shot their bolt in the first half as in the second it was all Donegal, with an
exhausted Gaels team desperately hanging on.
But hang on they did thanks to late points from substitute Ronan Kennedy
and move up in the standings.
 |
| Sean Conneely about to score the Gael's first goal. |
The Gaels were clearly up for this game and played with a
high intensity from the get go. The
westerners battled for every ball and their running off the ball was
constant. Ryan Hyde lined out in the
middle of the field and broke the ball well, with Gaels runners picking up
almost everything. After Donegal opened
the scoring with a point each from corner forwards, Paddy and Eoin Bradley, the
Gaels kicked into high gear.
Sean Conneely netted after picking up on a rebound from a
high ball into the box, and Jack Kielt pointed to follow up the score. Conneely added another point and the Gaels
were flying. Two long range dead ball
efforts from Fintan Cooney had the Gaels looking at a 10 points to 3 lead. Eoin Bradley had moved deeper out the field
and tallied a point with John Campbell adding another for Donegal who could not
settle into the game. Just before the
half time whistle Hyde burst through the defence and buried the ball into the
top corner. At the break the Gaels were
ahead 2-9 to 0-4.
 |
| Brian Donnelly rises highest for this kickout. |
This Donegal team though has too much quality to be counted
out and came out all guns blazing in the second half. After the northerners outscored the Gaels
three points to one to set the tone for what was to come in the second stanza,
Eoin O’Connor ran through virtually unchallenged to blast past Eoin Connolly
and it was game on again. This time it
was Donegal who looked unstoppable while the Gaels lost their way. Some chances that fell to the westerners were
badly missed, and badly needed, and at the other end Paddy and Eoin Bradley
made hay with three points unanswered.
Entering the last quarter it was the Gaels hanging on by a
thread to a one goal lead. Changes were
made with Ronan Kennedy, Jack Wyndham, and Noel Graham entering the fray for
the Gaels and Darragh Kavanagh for Donegal.
The long ball into the isolated corner forwards from Derry continued to
work for Donegal and the deficit was reduced to a single point, and it looked
as though Donegal would pull off a massive comeback. However it was two late scores from Leitrim
man, Ronan Kennedy, that kept the Gaels noses just about ahead when nobody else
in a green and white shirt could find the space between the posts. A big win for the Gaels, however, once this Donegal
team settles into the remainder of the championship they will be hard to beat.
Donegal: B. Flynn, D.
Monagle, J. Noctor, R. Dunleavy, G. Brennan, C. Russell, R. Caldwell, B.
Donnelly, J. Campbell, E. O’Connor, G. Gallagher, P. Bradley, E. Bradley. Gaels:
E. Connolly, L. Cullen, A. Girvan, F. Cooney, R. Caffrey, D. Larkin, R.
Hyde, B. Boylan, S. Conneeley, C. Sheehan, J. O’Brien, R. Rafferty, J. Kielt.
By Rory O'Donnell
No comments:
Post a Comment