Donegal 1-16 - A Sweeney 1-4; B Devenney 0-6, 3 frees; M Hegarty 0-2; P McGonigle, M Crossan, B Roper, J Gallagher (free) 0-1 each.

Fermanagh 2-13 - S Maguire 1-5; R Gallagher 0-6, 4 frees; M O'Donnell 1-0; S King, K Donnelly 0-1 each.

referee: S Prior (Leitrim)

Attendance: 10,000.

A dead-heat in the Border Derby that is re-awakening Gaelic passions in the north-west. This small-town epic might be a little remembered thing by the time summer turns full circle but on a parched Sunday in mid-May, it seemed like the cutting edge of championship fare.

Fermanagh travelled up through Barnesmore Gap seeking to consolidate last year's victory over their neighbours, their first since 1934. In the dying seconds of this fast-scoring, hurried match, the visitors had all but reached another touchstone, leading 2-13 to 1-14. Although Mickey Moran showed faith with a new-looking Donegal team, it was old warrior Noel Hegarty who fronted the late charge which led to two brave frees from Brendan Devenney and Adrian Sweeney to bring the teams back to Enniskillen next Sunday.

Both sides seemed content afterwards and it was clear the cult of John Maughan is now a cross-Border entity. The Mayo man, attired in trademark shorts, was serenaded by Fermanagh men as he collected his thoughts at pitch side afterwards.

"It was a tough game. We expected Donegal to come out guns blazing and they did. We took that bit longer to settle down into a pattern but I thought we finished stronger in the first half and they, obviously, finished stronger in the end."

The game was defined by two crucially-timed Fermanagh goals. Stephen Maguire was instrumental in both. The big Belcoo forward took up where he left off last summer, tormenting defences with his canny use of space and economical shooting style. His contribution of 1-5 from play was a fair return on an accomplished afternoon which saw Donegal's Eamon Doherty, Mark Crossan and Patrick Campbell all take turns in shadowing him.

Maguire's effectiveness was facilitated by Rory Gallagher's consistently perfect delivery. The Fermanagh play-maker was curtailed in open play by the outstanding Damien Diver but his vision from free-kick situations was a joy and he always took the right option. More often that not, that was Maguire.

With the scores level at 1-6 to 0-9 after half an hour, Gallagher lobbed a sideline ball in the direction of Maguire, who had already nailed three from play. Such was the anxiety in the home defence they crowded the full forward and the pass bounced on to the utterly isolated Mark O'Donnell. The substitute had time enough to scan the crowd for friends and family before firing low past Tony Blake to leave the score at 1-9 to 1-6.

The visitors' second goal also had the potential to fatally wind Donegal, coming against the run of play with 10 minutes remaining. Maguire rose from a dusty crowd to meet a dropping ball and fisted a shot beyond the out-rushing Blake. Brian Roper dived and appeared to palm it to safety but after a delay, the green flag was raised and Fermanagh led by 2-12 to 1-13.

Donegal's response to that setback must have given Mickey Moran his most pleasing moments since he assumed management. Having drafted in heavy hitters like Hegarty, Roper, Tony Boyle and Martin Coll throughout the frenetic second half, he was rewarded with a convincing display of character.

Brendan Devenney had his finest afternoon in a Donegal shirt since his eye-catching debut three years ago. As well as popping six points, he burnt his marker Ryan McCloskey to set up Adrian Sweeney for the home team's fourth-minute goal. Sweeney himself was also immense, floating a marvellous point in response to Maguire's goal and then stepping up to kick the game-saving free. Michael Hegarty started brightly but as he faded, Brian Roper came in and added renewed purpose to the Donegal attack.

It was a forward's day and although both teams will spend the next days examining defensive cracks, there were some heroic individual performances in defence. Martin McGrath and Raymond Johnston each had a trojan afternoon for the visitors, while Diver and Mark Crossan were at the coal-face of the Donegal defence. Eamon Doherty laboured valiantly on Maguire while McCloskey stuck doggedly to the torrid task of taming Devenney.

For all the untidiness and spilled passes, there was no shortage of sweet scoring. While both teams have a long way to go if they are to emerge through the dog days up north, they have smaller concerns to contend with prior to Sunday.

The disappointment for Fermanagh was they weren't cold blooded enough to finish the game after Maguire's goal. Gallagher's first half wizardry was not quite so evident in the closing period and his marksmanship was blighted by two second-half misses. But they will be a daunting proposition in Brewster Park.

Donegal's days of lording it over their neighbours is just nostalgia now and they will consider Sunday's short trip with an element of trepidation. Jim McGuinness was out of sorts in his novel corner forward position and he roved endlessly in an attempt to get into the game. He did close out fairly strongly, assisting the tiring John Gildea around mid-field. Newcomer Paul McGonigle fared quite well in his first summer outing but at times the home team appeared to lack a definite leader until the wizened Hegarty came on to impose his brand of cussedness on the tie.

The drama, then, follows Maughan and company back across the Border for another 70 minutes by the Erne.

Both team managers expressed their unhappiness with the new substitution system. Maughan and Moran reported significant frustration as they attempted to change players in the critical phase of the game.

Moran pointed out that as the referee was not wired up, there was no way of attracting his attention when the game was in the balance.