Donegal League hit late winner at Inishowen League in first leg of Oscar Traynor clash

Paul Boyle headed in a 92 minute winner as Donegal League drew first blood in this derby clash in the Oscar Traynor Trophy at Maginn Park on Wednesday night.

Inishowen League 2 Donegal League 3

Donegal had blown a two-goal lead when Edward O’Reilly’s brace was pegged back by goals from Kieran McDaid and Luke Rudden.

Diarmuid O’Brien’s Inishowen were staring up the cliff when O’Reilly clipped in his second in the 65th minute, but they were level within five minutes.

McDaid slalomed his way in to slot the bottom corner in the 68th minute and it was game on.

Barely two minutes later, Inishowen were level when Rudden converted from Peter Doherty’s probing ball in.

Inishowen were dealt a gammer blow 13 minutes from the end when Rudden was sent off by referee Danny McLaughlin following a late tackle on Matthew Crossan.

The winner arrived two minutes into added-on time as Boyle rose to finish from Joel Gorman’s corner and giving Donegal a slender advantage heading for the second leg in early February.

Donegal broke the deadlock in the 20th minute. Fanad United attacker O’Reilly timed his run to perfection to beat the offside trap and get on the end of Adrian Delap’s inviting pass. O’Reilly drew the Inishowen goalkeeper Johnny Noone and deliciously lofted to the back of the net.

At almost precisely the same moment in the second half, with a little more than 64 minutes played, O’Reilly repeated the trick.

Joel Gorman made the pass and this time O’Reilly stepped around the advancing Noone to tuck home his second.

The Inishowen League team that faced Donegal at Maginn Park.

Earlier on, McDaid fashioned a good opening for the home side after only four minutes. After combining with Rudden on the edge of the area, McDaid was denied by a one-handed stop by Donegal goalkeeper Blake Forkan. Inishowen went close again from the resulting corner, with Crossan forced to clear off the line from Rudden’s attempt.

The Donegal League last won the Oscar Traynor Trophy 41 years ago, in 1983. In recent years, they were quarter-finalists in 2019 and semi-finalists in 2016.

Recent departures to the Irish League left the Donegal League manager John Francis Doogan shorn the services of former Kildrum pair Shane McGinty (Institute) and Ronan McKinley (Dergview) and a weekend injury kept James Doherty to a watching brief here.

Yet, by the tenth minute the Donegal men could and should have been in front.

First, Darren McElwaine fired wide in front of a yawning goal after Noone parried from O’Reilly’s initial attempt. Before even breath could be drawn, Inishowen wires got badly crossed, but Shane McNamee was unable to capitalise and Calvin Gallagher saved the blushes.

Benny McLaughlin struck the Donegal crossbar with a testing effort from distance in the 12th minute.

McLaughlin, McDaid and Noone were on the Inishowen League panel that won this competition back in 2015, with McDaid scoring in a 2-1 win over AUL in the final. Inishowen were back in the final in 2017, but lose out 1-0 to Clare.

McLaughlin went close with a heated attempt on the half-hour while Rudden had another effort stabbed out for a corner late in the opening half.

Rudden was denied by Forker and, just after O’Reilly fired Donegal two in front, McDaid curled a free kick just past its intended target.

Inishowen battled back to restore parity, but Keadue defender Boyle popped up with the winner.

It’s still all to play for when the teams meet again at The Diamond Park in the return leg on February 4.

Inishowen League: Johnny Noone, Lee McLaughlin (Adam Curran 67), Lee McColgan (John Gerard McLaughlin 82), Peter Doherty, Thomas McMonagle, Calvin Gallagher, Christy McLaughlin (Terence Doherty 67), James Henry, Luke Rudden, Kieran McDaid, (Oisin Hession 87) Brendan McLaughlin.

Donegal League: Blake Forkan, Ryan Lonergan (Maurice McGee 82), Brendan McCafferty, Paul Boyle, Matthew Crossan, Joel Gorman, Adrian Delap (Nathan Plumb 72), Michael Funston (Mark Forker 56), Edward O’Reilly, Shane McNamee (Zach Gorman 56), Darren McElwaine (Ryan Cunningham 86).

Referee: Danny McLaughlin (Inishowen).