Donegal make the decisive strikes

Donegal 2-6 Tyrone 0-9:NO ONE said it would be pretty. Right from the start it was terribly crowded, and coupled with the heat and humidity, there was hardly room to breathe. And that was only in the press box.

At least out on the field Donegal eventually found space to create two fairly spectacular and decisive goals – and with that book their place in the Ulster final for the first time in five years. Tyrone surrender their two-year crown, and for the first time in 13 years, the Tyrone-Armagh domination of Ulster football has been broken.

No one said it would be easy either. Just when it seemed the teams had become inseparable, Donegal got the opening goal that finally injected life into Clones. They’d tried hard to isolate either Michael Murphy or Colm McFadden, and then on 50 minutes, Murphy collected a nice pass from Karl Lacey, and deftly set up McFadden in front of goal. The only problem was McFadden was wrong-footed, and forced to shoot with his weaker right foot, but it didn’t matter as he rifled his shot past Pascal McConnell.

That put Donegal in front for the first time – 1-6 to 0-8. Tyrone, typically, fought hard for the equaliser, but incredibly the next score didn’t come until added time, a full 15 minutes later, when Martin Penrose – who had been replaced before the start by Owen Mulligan – shot for the equaliser, just as the watch flicked past 70 minutes.

So the draw seemed inevitable, deserving almost, even when four minutes of added time were announced. Instead, in one of the last moves of the game, Murphy again turned provider when he dispossessed Martin Swift, and passed to Dermot Molloy who had only been on the field about eight minutes. But he took his winning chance with gusto – and there was no way back for Tyrone after that.

They’d already been reduced to 14 men on 62 minutes when midfielder Kevin Hughes was sent off on a second yellow card within two minutes, and, worse still, had lost central defender Joe McMahon on 49 minutes to a suspected concussion, the result of his brave defending on Leo McLoone.

Whatever about championship mileage on their body clocks, Tyrone lacked the pivotal change of gear that has so raised their tempo beyond their opponents. Brian Dooher started to look his 36 years as the game progressed, and O’Stephen O’Neill lacked his old sharpness in front of goal.

Anything else? Remove Donegal’s two goals, and the rest was more like trench warfare. Tyrone should have established a more commanding lead in the first half, but after expending huge energy and enthusiasm reached the intermission only two points in front: 0-6 to 0-4. They could well have put Donegal out of sight had they been a little more accurate, or ruthless. They hit five wides in the first 20 minutes, and just before the break Stephen O’Neill forced a fine save from Paul Durcan, that in his meaner days he might well have finished.

As Mickey Harte later pointed out – and was disgusted with – Tyrone had 18 scoring chances in the first half, and only converted six, while Donegal only had five and converted four. Presumably those statistics provided encouragement for Jim McGuinness in the Donegal dressingroom at half time, and they certainly reappeared a more determined team.

Kevin Cassidy closed the gap to the minimum two minutes after the restart, and after that it was clear this would go down to the wire. Tyrone’s apparently greater spread of scoring forwards, and slicker, more direct passing, seemed to desert them – and they began running down dead ends, or even losing possession. What let Tyrone down as well was the shaky free-taking of Peter Harte, who missed one simple chance to equalise before Penrose stepped up, and also sent two others wide.

Tyrone will wonder how they even allowed Donegal to stay in the game as long as they did. It was 15 minutes before Patrick McBrearty fired over their opening score, and another 15 minutes before Kevin Rafferty added their second – and yet despite that ominous start it’s Donegal who are in the Ulster final against Derry, in Clones, on July 17th.

DONEGAL: 1 P Durcan; 2 K Lacey, 3 N McGee, 4 P McGrath; 17 F McGlynn, 6 A Thompson, 7 K Cassidy (0-1); 8 R Kavanagh, 9 K Rafferty (0-1); 11 McMugh, 12 R Bradley, 13 P McBrearty (0-1); 14 M Murphy (0-2, one free), 10 M McElhinney, 15 C McFadden (1-1). Subs: 23 M Hegarty for McElhinney (24 mins), 22 L McLoone for Bradley (45 mins), 18 D Molloy (1-0) for McLoone (63 mins). Yellow cards: R Kavanagh (5 mins), M McHugh (38 mins), A Thompson (56 mins), L McLoone (47 mins), M Murphy (66 mins), N McGee (73 mins).

TYRONE: 1 P McConnell; 2 M Swift, 3 J McMahon, 4 R McMenamin; 5 D Harte, 6 C Gormley, 7 P Jordan (0-1); 8 K Hughes, 9 S Cavanagh (0-2, one free); 10 B Dooher (0-1), 11 B McGuigan, 12 P Harte (0-1, free); 25 O Mulligan (0-1), 14 S O’Neill (0-2), 15 M Donnelly. Subs: 24 Justin McMahon for McMahon (50 mins), 13 M Penrose (0-1) for Mulligan (52), 23 T McGuigan for O’Neill, 26 S O’Neill for McGuigan (both 64), 18 C Cavanagh for Dooher (68).

Yellow cards: B McGuigan (42 mins), K Hughes (60, 62 mins), P Harte (67). Red card: K Hughes (62 mins).

Referee: J McQuillan (Cavan).