John Francis Doogan: Donegal League deserved to progress past Inishowen

Donegal League manager John Francis Doogan was delighted to get through a ‘tense game’ with the Inishowen League and progress to the next stage of the Oscar Traynor Cup. 

The two sides drew 1-1 at Diamond Park in Ballyare on Sunday however, the Donegal League outfit held a slender 3-2 lead from the first leg to seal their progression. 

Doogan’s men got on the scoresheet early through a seventh-minute goal courtesy of Eddie O’Reilly to extend their aggregate cushion to two. 

The Donegal League manager insisted that it was necessary for his side to sit in and defend after the early goal with Inishowen needing to go at them in attack.

“We were caught between a rock and a hard place in this game because they (Inishowen) had to go for it with us being ahead from the first leg so you don’t want to leave yourself too open although I think we could’ve been a bit better on the ball but it’s great to go through”, stated the Donegal League boss.

“We got a good early goal to go 1-0 up and then they had to go at it. It probably looks bad from the sideline but we had to sit in, that’s what you do in the game then. We’re two goals better off at that stage so you just sit in and let them have it, you don’t go gung ho.”

Midway through the opening period, Inishowen found a leveller through a free kick which Doogan was very disappointed with the awarding of and went on to mention his disappointment at the refereeing on the day overall. 

“I was really disappointed in the decision to give them the free kick for their goal. On our side it looked like a dive. I wasn’t happy at all with the performance of some of the officials in that game. 

“I felt that there was no consistency. You’ve got the best two teams in the county playing at the top top level and I don’t think everything that happened on the pitch in terms of the refereeing performance backed that up.”

With 20 minutes to go, Inishowen were dealt a massive blow to their chances as they were reduced to ten men, a moment which Doogan felt changed things. 

“The red card changed things as it probably took the winds out of their sails a bit and to be fair to them they put up a brave fight and we’re happy to get into the next round but we have a lot of work to do for the next game.”

Inishowen continued to battle until the very end in search of the all-important goal which they needed. Some superb defending was required from Doogan’s men to keep them at bay and he gave huge credit to the way his troops dealt with the corners and crosses that Inishowen were throwing at them in the closing stages.

“We defended really well, they had half chances but you’re going to get that. You are playing against a top team and they’re going to create chances and you have to accept that fact and get on with it.

“Though we did very well, lads got blocks in and Blake (Forkan) did well in goals, a few times he got punches on corners because with the wind that was in it you were just able to hang a corner in there and the wind was causing havoc so we did superbly to defend them.

“But again it’s just great to get through it because Inishowen had a right go at it there, as they did in the first leg but I feel over the two games we deserved to get through. We’ve shown enough quality and got goals so great to progress to the next round after a very tense game.”

The Donegal League will now represent Ulster in the All-Ireland stage of the Oscar Traynor Cup. They will face Leinster opposition, yet to be confirmed, at home and Doogan insists that whoever they face will have a stern test on their hands when they face his side.

“The Leinster Senior League and the AUL are playing now on Wednesday night and we play the winner of that so I might have a wee trip to Dublin to watch it so we’ll see how that goes.

“But again, they’re coming up here and they’ll have a fight on their hands to come up here and take anything away from it and we’ll give it a right go. The players have had a good buy in, a couple of lads are probably disappointed not to be in the squad today and they might be in with a shout of coming back in, so again plenty to work on but we’ll get there.”