Ulster SFC quarter-final: Donegal 1-21 (1-4-13) Down 3-21 (3-2-17)
Outnumbered and unbacked, yet Down completely tore up the Ulster Championship’s script in Letterkenny.
Two late goals by Miceál Rooney blew Ulster wide open as holders Donegal were sent hurtling out of the provincial race.
Down manager Conor Laverty told how his men meticulously prepared for an ambush in the Cathedral town, which was hosting its first Ulster SFC game since 1951.
A crowd just shy of 10,000 bore witness to a seismic shock.
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“I said to them leaving the hotel this morning that I fully believed in them,” Laverty said.
“They have put their lives on hold. We have been together for the last 10 days in a row now, studying Donegal and making sure we had every i dotted and t crossed and we left no stone unturned.”
The game was in the melting pot right until the final few minutes.
Just two points separated the teams, Down ahead 1-19 to 1-17, with five minutes remaining when Rooney struck gold.
Rooney weaved his way into position and got around Donegal goalkeeper Gavin Mulreany to practically walk the ball into the Donegal net.
While Peadar Mogan nailed a two-pointer for Donegal, Rooney repeated his trick, firing home from close range after full back Brendan McCole took the ball off his own goal-line.
Donegal, off the back of winning Division One, played second fiddle for long spells, but Caolan McGonagle’s first-half goal helped to keep them in the shake-up.
“Very, very disappointed with the overall performance,” said Jim McGuinness afterwards. “We had a lot of the ball in the first half, but weren’t ourselves in front of the posts. We were in the 30s in terms of conversion rate and that’s not us. We have a lot to think about.”
The game really sprang to life in the 28th minute.
Pat Havern’s third of the game had just put Down ahead by four, 0-8 to 0-4, when Donegal pounced for a goal out of nowhere, McGonagle rifling low past Ronan Burns.
Barely a minute later, Down might have hit back with a goal of their own, but Mulreany saved superbly from Rooney.
Donegal countered again and Oisin Gallen went for goal, but Burns turned it over the top.
With the final kick of the opening half, Caolan Mooney – who performed a retirement U-turn in recent weeks – slammed over off the outside of his right boot.
Down, who won Division Three this year, led 0-11 to 1-7 at the short whistle and in the 41st minute, Guinness took aim from 20 metres and superbly found the bottom corner.
Just two minutes later, Havern – who scored seven points in all – landed a two-pointer and Donegal were in bother.
“Down were written off in every quarter and that was fuel for them,” McGuinness pointed out. “They weren’t even in the picture and that was obviously going to be fuel to the fire. We needed to be ready for that and we weren’t ready for that.”
Joint-captain Michael Langan was unavailable having suffered an ankle injury, but McGuinness said the 2025 All-Star should be “fine moving forward”.
Man of the match Odhran Murdock, who was imperious here, widened the gap to five, but Donegal hit back well and were within two points with 20 minutes to play in the Letterkenny sunshine.
Jason McGee took an offload from Peadar Mogan and slammed over a two-pointer to restore parity in the 51st minute – the eighth time the scores were level.
“There was energy at that stage, but not enough,” McGuinness said. “We would have stolen it in some respects if we had ... we pushed reasonably hard in the middle of the second half, but we weren’t able to sustain it. For Ulster championship football, you have to be at it from the first minute. We have to lick our wounds and just get on with it.”
Donegal: G Mulreany; C McColgan, B McCole, E Gallagher; R McHugh, C McGonagle (1-0-0), F Roarty; J McGee (0-1-0), H McFadden; S O’Donnell, C Moore, P Mogan (0-1-0); C O’Donnell (0-0-3), M Murphy (0-1-5, 4f), O Gallen (0-0-5). Subs: D Ó Baoill for Moore (41), M Campbell for McHugh (47), M Curran for Gallagher (59), S Malone (0-1-0) for Gallen (60).
Down: R Burns; P Fegan, P Laverty, C Rogers; C Mooney (0-0-1), S Annett, D Guinness (1-0-3); O Murdock (0-0-3), R McEvoy (0-1-0); M Rooney (2-0-0), C Doherty (0-0-1), J McGeough; A Crimmins (0-0-4), P Havern (0-1-5, 4f), P McPolin. Subs: L Kerr for McGeough (42), F McElroy for Fegan (49), J Doran for Mooney (57), R Magill for McPolin (61), R McCormack for Rogers (66).
Referee: P Neilan (Down).
