Donegal make good use of the extra man

U-21F ALL-IRELAND SEMI FINAL Donegal 0-12 Tipperary 0-4:DONEGAL BOSS Jimmy McGuinness believes the sending off of Tipperary captain Ciarán McDonald early in the second half swung Saturday night's semi-final in Parnell Park decisively in his side's favour.

McDonald was shown a second yellow card in the 32nd minute by referee Damien Brazil, in what looked a harsh decision, as Tipperary trailed 0-4 to 0-1.

The loss of their captain was a massive blow for Tipperary, particularly as he had been doing a superb job in curbing the influence of Donegal’s attacking star Michael Murphy.

“It changed the game,” said McGuinness. “I feel for the lad. He’s a phenomenal player and it was a phenomenal tussle between himself and Michael before that. It definitely had a huge bearing on the game.”

The first-half was a low-scoring affair, with Donegal just edging it, 0-3 to 0-1, at the break. Murphy, Leo McLoone and Dermot Molloy struck points with a Conor Sweeney free Tipp’s solitary reply.

The influential Murphy was assisted in the scoring stakes by impressive substitute James Carroll, and Molloy and Donegal went on to lead 0-8 to 0-3 at the end of the third quarter.

Four late points on the trot by Murphy (2), Carroll and Molloy sealed a final spot against Dublin.

DONEGAL: P Boyle; D Walsh, C Boyle, P McGrath; E Doherty, D Curran, K Mulhern; L McLoone (0-1), C Classon; D McLaughlin, D Molloy (0-3, one free), T McKinley; A McFadden, M Murphy (0-6, three frees), M McHugh. Subs: J Carroll (0-2)for McLaughlin (half-time); P McNelis for McKinley (45 mins); C Morrisson for McFadden, D Murphy for McGrath, S O'Kennedy for Curran (all 60).

TIPPERARY: K Kenrick; D Lynch, C McDonald, R Kiely; D Dwyer, J Coghlan, P O'Dwyer; A Moloney (0-1), P Acheson; S Carey (0-2, one free), B O'Brien, A Matassa; C Sweeney (0-1, one free), S Egan, M O'Dwyer. Subs: P McEvoy for M O'Dwyer (half-time); T Hanly for Matassa (45 mins); B O'Meara for Egan (48); G Ryan for O'Brien (55); D Heffernan for Carey (60).

Referee: Damien Brazil(Offaly).