Derry titans of tight battle

Clones at its truest. Thundering football, often fraught with error, never less than beguiling. As the game hauled us sodden and nerve-wracked towards the conclusive sequence, neither side seemed prepared to break forward and settle a final which at times bore an eerie resemblance to the 1993 decider, when Derry last became champions.

There were always signs, though, that they might emerge from the province for the first time in half a decade. After Donegal kicked themselves into a 0-7 to 0-5 lead - a yawning margin in a match defined by defensive thrift - Derry grew visibly tighter, sweeping up around half back and remorselessly wearing their opponents down.

Dermot Heaney came in to beef up the team's central column and Geoffery McGonigle, crew-cut and bulky, ambled into the arena with six minutes left to a primal roar of expectation. He didn't disappoint. With two minutes to go, he came to collect a ball from Dermot Dougan and turned outside his man before curling a shot narrowly wide.

With just over one minute left, Donegal came searching, winning a free near centre field which Noel Hegarty opted to pitch across field to Diver, whose pass met the sideline. Again, though, Hegarty scrapped for possession, this time angling a quick pass for Brendan Devenney. The forward, after torching Derry's last line all afternoon, tried to pop a late winner from deep and his effort spiralled across the front of the posts and drifted wide.

All of Clones waited for referee Jim Curran to blow time, Eoin McCloskey hammered his kick-out, Anthony Tohill snatched possession and thumped a long ball downfield which McGonigle flicked into space for himself before freeing Joe Brolly with an astute pass. Brolly rounded Donegal' keeper Tony Blake and picked his spot. Goal, game over, Noel Hegarty's late score an irrelevance.

A swift, jubilant conclusion to a match which drifted uneasily on a subtext of petulant ill-will, very little continuity and a vague sense of general unease, as if nobody had expected matters to unfold as they were, players included. Surprising (but perhaps inevitable) that Brolly's clincial audacity once more turned the issue.

On countless occasions, he found himself wrapped up by Barry McGowan, who possessed speed and deftness enough to render the Dungiven man a peripheral figure until the last, when McGowan fatally decided to push forward as Donegal attempted to build for a winning score.

McGowan and Noel McGinley typified another admirable defensive effort from Donegal who held the Derry front six scoreless for the final 25 minutes of the first half and twice won crucial ball in the dying seconds which their forwards failed to convert.

Derry were equally adept at thwarting Donegal's offensive options. Sean Martin Lockhart scarcely put a foot wrong against Tony Boyle. Twice in the early exchanges the Donegal man got possession but Lockhart managed to stay tight to his man without allowing him to pass and twice Derry spoiled the attack. Boyle was forced to survive on loose change.

With McKeever also bottling up an out-of sorts Manus Boyle, only Brendan Devenney looked to have the potency to breach Derry's last line, particularly when left isolated in one-and one situations.

Although Anthony Tohill steamed through centre-field for the first quarter of the game, Jim McGuinness and substitute James Ruane gradually began to nullify his presence, deflecting ball to the scavenging packs. Donegal's John Duffy, ever creative, and Noel Hegarty won enough ball for Donegal to fashion a reasonable lead midway through the second half but Derry were resolute, with O'Neill, Henry Downey and McFlynn pushing Donegal back field in search of spare men.

Eventually, the pressure told. Tohill's early supremacy afforded Derry possession enough to open up a 0-2 to 0-1 lead before Gary Magill scored a fine point on 10 minutes to leave them up by two. Remarkably, Derry didn't disturb the scorekeeper for the remainder of the half and Donegal gradually asserted themselves, with Devenney turning on a dime to pitch the equaliser after 26 minutes.

Donegal maintained the initiative after the break, Devenney ghosting past McKeever and declining a shot on goal in favour of a pass to Tony Boyle, who converted. Brolly broke free to equalise for Derry but then Boyle nailed two quick points and Donegal were two up with 48 minutes gone. Although struggling to find their game, Derry persevered, Joe Cassidy chipping a point.

In the 55th minute, John Duffy raced on to a falling Manus Boyle 45 and although he palmed the ball into the net, he was crucially called for a square ball. From here in, Derry took the initiative, with Brolly screwing a gift wide before Magill took a perceptive pass from Gormley to pitch over the equaliser.

Seven minutes left and anyone's shout, although Derry looked slightly fresher now on the heavy, soaking surface. Jim McGuinness, after maintaining a stunning work rate for the majority of the match, seemed to tire at the ebb but although Derry began to manipulate the midfield skirmishes, Diver, Coll and Hegarty repeatedly read their intentions and cleared. This grim puzzle seemed to be without solution. Time elapsed. Draw, we declared. Wrong, smiled Joe Brolly. Derry's summer is young yet.