Donegal 1-25; Derry 1-15
It may have been only the preliminary round of the ‘25 Ulster championship but already Donegal have shown why they will be serious contenders for this year’s Sam Maguire following their 10-point victory over a game but outclassed Derry outfit at Ballybofey on Sunday.
They now go forward to meet Division 2 league champions Monaghan the weekend after next but barring a major upset, expect Jim McGuinness’s men to continue their upward trajectory on the road to retaining their Ulster title and on regaining Sam for the first time in over a decade.
Derry started with a plan having elected to play against the wind and it worked for until Donegal figured them out. Then, thanks to two two-pointers and a smashing goal from Dáire Ó Baoill, they accelerated to seven points ahead by the interval and were in total control thereafter, had increased their advantage by a further three before the sound of the long whistle.
Everything about this game had the McGuinness stamp on it - from play-acting with a dummy lineout - Michael Murphy, Patrick McBrearty and Odhran McFadden Ferry all started to the way he used the initial stanza of the game to see what Derry were trying to do - and then undid it.
Mind you, it might have been a shade different had his goalkeeper Shaun Patton not denied Shane McGuigan with a brilliant double save from the penalty spot, which would have given Derry an early boost and an early lead. Up to 10 minutes before half-time, the Oak Leaf travelers must have felt they were right in the game as they tied at 0-5 a piece but then a quick burst of Ó Baoill magic initially saw the home side stretch their lead to 0-11 0-05. Derry replied with Lachlan Murray orchestrating a move before Dan Higgins found the net but just as the big crowd were thinking “game on,” the imperious Ciaran Thompson caught a kick-out ÓBaoill galloped through like an arrow through the defense to blast home and give his side a slightly flattering seven-point lead at half-time.
Donegal manager Jim McGuinness watches the action at Ballybofey. [Inpho/Lorcan Doherty]
Derry knew they were playing catch up and in fairness to them, they kept plugging away with the impressive Brendan Rogers and Conor Doherty carving out and trying to initiate scores.
Donegal looked like the boxer with the ability to land the telling punch when it was needed and once they hit seven points without a single reply with the elusive McBrearty leading them on supported by the likes of Ciaran Moore and Peadar Mogan, well 1-23 to 1-12 tells its own story. The game was well over long before it was over at all.
Donegal: S Patton; F Roarty (0-1), B McCole, O McFadden-Ferry; R McHugh (0-1), C McGonagle, P Mogan (0-2); H McFadden, C Moore (0-2); D Ó Baoill 1-4 (0-2 2pt), C Thompson, S O'Donnell (0-2); C O'Donnell (0-2), M Murphy (0-1f), P McBrearty (0-7, 0-3f) Subs: M Curran for McFadden-Ferry (half-time), O Gallen (0-1) for C O’Donnell (50), J Brennan (0-1) for McBrearty (57), J McGee for McFadden (60), N O’Donnell for Roarty (66)
Derry: N McNicholl; D Baker, B Rogers (0-5, 0-2 2pt), M Bradley; C Doherty (0-2, 1 2pt), P McGrogan (0-1), E McEvoy; C Glass, D Higgins (1-0); E Doherty, P Cassidy, C McFaul; N Toner (0-1), S McGuigan (0-4f), L Murray (0-2, 0-1f)Subs: N Loughlin for Higgins (38), C McMonagle for Toner (51), P McGurk for E.Doherty (57), D Cassidy for McGrogan (66).
Ref: Brendan Cawley (Kildare).
Mayo do enough
Mayo 2-20; Sligo 2-17
You could write a book about Mayo and still not solve the riddle.
After bombing against Kerry in the league final the previous Sunday, they resorted to their Jeykll and Hyde textbook as they started well, became mediocre and ultimately were holding on against a ferocious attempt by the challengers to cause a shock in Castlebar on Sunday.
Ultimately, they escaped by the skin of their teeth and will have a more relaxed encounter when they meet low-flying Leitrim in the Connacht semi-final the weekend after next, but Kevin McStay will be happy his charges got out of this encounter without season-long scars.
Sligo began brightly with David Quinn getting the first score of the game which was quickly negatived by Davitt Neary.
Visiting captain Niall Murphy pushed them ahead again but then Mayo burst into life when Colm Reape’s kickout was gathered by Neary who found Darren McHale. When he fed Ryan O’Donoghue, you could see the intent on his face as he cut through the visitors’ defense to lash home one of the goals of the season. When Mayo quickly added three more points to lead by five points and with man of the match Aidan O’Shea playing out of his skin as a scorer and target man, there surely could only have been one outcome.
But Sligo under John McEntee don’t go away just because they are trailing by five points and by half-time thanks to points from Alan McLoughlin and Niall Murphy, they were just that goal in arrears, 1-8 to 0-8.
It looked all over when O’Shea popped up for an opportunistic goal on the resumption and were seven clear shortly after. Was it game over? You must be joking.
Sligo showed great persistence and were rewarded with a goal of their own as Luke Towey punched home from a Pat Spillane pass, though he looked to be in the square long before the hand-pass from the right arrived.
Mayo, to be fair, kicked on with three more points and looked to be in third gear at this stage.
A second goal from Cian Lally gave Sligo real hope to have a go in the remaining seven minutes - but Mayo kicked another three to keep them at arm’s length.
Sligo came on strong with a point from Oisin Flynn and two massive two pointers from McLoughlin and Murphy cut the margin to a goal but time ran out as Aidan O’Shea, who else caught the last high ball to prevent the Yeats County men from launching a final shot at pushing the game to extra time with a late goal.
Mayo: C Reape; J Coyne, D McHugh, E Hession (0-1); S Callinan, D McBrien, S Coen; J Carney (0-2), M Ruane (0-1); D Neary (0-1), D McHale (0-4), F Kelly; A O’Shea (1-3), D Thornton (0-1), R O’Donoghue (1-4f) Subs: D O’Connor for Ruane 43, F Boland (0-2) for Kelly 54, N Coggins for Neary 60, S Morahan for McHugh 61, C Dawson (0-1) for Hession 66, P Towey for Thornton 71
Sligo: D Lyons; E Lyons, E McGuinness, P McNamara; B Cox, N Mullen, L Towey; C Mulligan, P O’Connor; C Lally (1-1), D Quinn (0-1), A Reilly; A McLoughlin (0-5,1tp,1f), N Murphy (c) (0-7,1tp), P Spillane (0-2) Subs: R Doherty for Quinn 46, S Deignan for Spillane 65, L Deignan for McNamara 65, O Flynn (0-01) for Reilly 66, M Gordon for O’Connor 71
Ref: Noel Mooney (Cavan).
Small Dubs boost
The news that John Small is back training with the Dublin panel will come as a massive boost to blues fans as the versatile Small will bring added experience and nous to a defense which at times has been carved up in the Division One games.
It will also add to the strength in depth of the Dublin panel which Manager Dessie Farrell wants as he plots to maximize the Dublin season beyond an all but given Leinster title. With respect to the other counties, even in transition Dublin will prove too strong in the eastern province but it is how they grow during those games that will have a bearing in how they operate when thrust into the top tier of the race for Sam Maguire.
While any trip to Aughrim to play Wicklow always has an unknown factor, Dublin will be confident of victory on Sunday against the Garden County, who showed great character to beat Longford in Pearse Park last Sunday after extra-time.
What may be an inhibiting factor for the Dublin team used to playing their championship games in Croke Park is the crowd at Aughrim and a full house, which would certainly help to lift Oisin McConville's charges response in such surroundings.
Oisin McConville wants to see the Wicklow public get behind his side after being left disappointed by the level of backing so far this year having set up a clash with Dublin in the Leinster Football Championship quarter-finals.
Wicklow were hotly tipped to gain promotion from Division 4 but lost to London and Wexford and only drew with Limerick in the crunch home game when they allowed a two-point lead to slip in added time. That point meant that Limerick only had to beat Waterford in the final game while Wicklow's win over Tipperary proved a pyrrhic victory in the end.
Aughrim will have a capacity of about 7,000 this Sunday, and McConville, now in his third year in charge of the home side, is hoping the occasion and the game will bring his team on in leaps and bounds.
Critical of his own supporters he declared; "We haven't had the support we wanted all year. Hopefully this is one to entice them in and see what this team is about because one thing about us, you can see today, regardless of how badly it's going or how many balls we're kicking wide, we just keep going and we have serious pace in our team.
"A lot of people would have said coming into this game, 'do you really want to win this?' But we have to win the games we're supposed to win. We take it from there and it happens to be the Dubs up next. It is an onerous task and we won't shy away from that but if you're going to gain experience, days like today and then going into the Dubs next week, even the preparation and the build-up, are valuable.
"What was here today, 500 or 600 people? The crowd that will be in Aughrim and the opportunity for these guys to play under those conditions in the Championship is bound to help them along the way regardless of what the result is."
Still it took a late, late equalizer from Podge O'Toole to deny Longford in regulation time and extend the game into extra time.
Added McConville: "I think we had the ball for 87pc of the first period of extra time and I think that was probably the difference. We were quite comfortable even though they brought it back to two.
"I knew we had the energy, we had a lot of pace on the pitch and as I say a lot of young lads making their debut and they're eager for it at the very, very least. I thought we finished really, really strongly and it's a credit to them to be honest.
"It was energy sapping and our boys all stood up and were counted towards the end. A lot of lads wouldn't have had a lot of championship experience played so I'm delighted with it and looking forward to next week now."
Cork look unstoppable
Cork 3-24; Tipperary 0-23
We’ve been saying it for a few months now - who can stop Cork hurlers as they strive to ended a 20-year barren spell by reclaiming the Liam MacCarthy cup this summer?
Certainly not Tipperary on the evidence of this national league final game at Pairc Ui Chaoimh on Sunday. And having destroyed Clare earlier in Ennis in the league and gotten the measure of Limerick in two thrilling championship games last season, you are running out of worthy opponents to test the Rebels and their goal-hungry forward line as the hurling championship season begins this weekend.
Yes it was “only” three goals from the forwards this time around but that was largely due to the fact that Manager Pat Ryan had the luxury of replacing and resting some of his stars such was the lead Cork had built up by half-time in this encounter in front of a full house on the banks of the Lee.
This was Cork’s first Allianz Hurling League title since 1998 and would you believe the county’s first national trophy of any kind in two decades.
Even with the manager thinking ahead by replacing some players, his side has still racked up a nice figure of 13 goals in their last three games. This time around the men responsible for the green flags were Alan Connolly, Darragh Fitzgibbon, and Ethan Twomey. And believe me there were more there for the taking if Ryan had thought it necessary to pursue them.
On paper, the Rebels now face a tough championship opener away to Clare but with Shane O’Donnell absent through injury and an indifferent league program behind the home side, including a spanking by Cork in Cusack Park, it would be a major surprise if the Banner men won this encounter.
Let’s not forget Tipp who have had a very good league campaign, this game excepted, and now must start all over again with an Easter Sunday joust against Limerick in Semple Stadium.
Cork: P Collins; N O’Leary, E Downey, S O’Donoghue; C Joyce (0-1), R Downey, C O’Brien; T O’Mahony (0-2), E Twomey (1-2); S Barrett (0-2), D Fitzgibbon (1-4), D Healy (0-2); P Horgan (0-7, 0-5f), A Connolly (1-2), B Hayes (0-1) Subs: S Harnedy for Healy (48), M Coleman for O’Brien (51), D Dalton for Hayes (52), T O’Connell (0-1) for Twomey (56), L Meade for Fitzgibbon (57-f-t, temp), S Kingston for Barrett (66).
Tipperary: B Hogan; M Breen, E Connolly, R Doyle; J Caesar, R Maher, B O’Mara; C Morgan, W Connors; S O’Farrell (0-2), A Tynan (0-1), G O’Connor (0-1); D McCarthy (0-4f), J Forde (0-7, 0-2 65, 0-1f), J Morris (0-3) Subs: D Stakelum (0-2) for Connors (23), S Kenneally (0-2) for Caesar (h-t), D Walsh for O’Connor (44), A Ormond (0-1) for McCarthy (46), S Kennedy for Tynan (57).
Ref: S Stack (Dublin).
