Donegal 2-13 Carlow 1-6:DONEGAL STRUGGLED to overcome a mediocre Carlow challenge in Ballybofey on Saturday.

There was a hint of a shock in the air when Carlow took a three-point lead thanks to a well-finished JJ Smith goal on 10 minutes. The Leinster side were on top for the first quarter as Donegal failed to sparkle.

With the sides level at the break, 1-3 to 0-6, Donegal were back on the field quickly, and when Rory Kavanagh hit their first goal within a minute, the game turned.

As the Carlow heads went down, Donegal had it easy to the finish with Conall Dunne flicking home a second goal and Michael Murphy converting four more frees.

Carlow’s misery was compounded when they had to play the final 14 minutes without half-forward Marc Carpenter, who picked up a second yellow card.

Referee Michael Duffy had Donegal players and supporters frustrated in the first half as he consistently pulled them up for illegal hand-passes, but even that couldn’t fully excuse their lethargy.“You don’t like losing by 10 points, but I was very proud of the players,” said Carlow manager Luke Dempsey.

DONEGAL: P Durcan; F McGlynn, N McGee, K Lacey; B Dunnion, E McGee, M Maguire; C Toye (0-1), K Cassidy; R Kavanagh (1-0), L McLoone (0-1), D Walsh; C Dunne (1-1), M Murphy (0-8, seven frees), S Griffin (0-1). Subs: B Monaghan for Maguire (14 mins), B Roper for Walsh (h-t), M Doherty for Dunne (58 mins), M Hegarty for Griffin (66 mins), D Gallagher (0-1) for Murphy (67 mins).

CARLOW: J Clarke; K Nolan, J Hayden, S Redmond; S Gannon, B English, S Hunter; J Murphy, W Minchin; D Molloy, JJ Smith (1-2, two frees), M Carpenter; E McCormack (0-1, free) D St Ledger (0-1), S Rea (0-2, free, 45). Subs:B Murphy for Molloy (h-t); D Phelan for Minchin, V Kavanagh for Hunter (both 44 mins); J Kavanagh for McCormack (49 mins); A Curran for English (66 mins).

Referee: M Duffy (Sligo).