Derry easily account for Donegal in lopsided MFC encounter

Donegal 0-6

Derry 3-12

Donegal suffered their first Ulster MFC loss at the hands of an impressive Derry in MacCumhaills Park.

Having scored previous wins over both Fermanagh and Down, Luke Barrett’s boys were brought back down to earth with a real bump in Ballybofey as the Oak Leafers ran out comprehensive 15-point winners.

Derry came out of the starting blocks in accelerated fashion as they jumped three clear inside five minutes. Conall Higgins lobbed over a free right away while a harsh penalisation of home stopper Padraig Mac Giolla Bhride allowed Derry to double that early advantage through Ger Dillon.

Derry could have raised a green flag when Oisin Doherty got in behind the home defence. But while the inside forward did very well to propel himself through on goal, he blazed the opportunity high and over.

Eight minutes in, an under siege Donegal had Mac Giolla Bhride to thank for preventing them from going six down when he brilliantly denied John Boyle, after Cahir Speirs’ original effort came back off the upright.

Barrett’s boys did settle though and with Shane Callaghan nailing a brace - one from a free and one from play - Donegal were right back in it on 17 minutes at 0-3 to 0-2. Derry then suffered a blow as big midfielder Cahal McKaigue limped out of the action.

But Damien McErlain’s charges upped the ante when Ger Dillon doubled their advantage once more. But back Donegal bounced thanks to a fine Dylan Mulholland free as 0-4 led 0-3 eight minutes out from the midpoint.

However, just when Donegal looked like they had put their opening quarter jitters behind them, Derry found another gear. First, Higgins clipped their fifth point of the game and then, inside two ruthless minutes, the visitors fired in two big three-pointers.

Cahir Speirs grabbed the first of those when he reacted quickest to another fine Mac Giolla Bhride save to slap home from close range.

The second arrived when James Sargent cantered through the middle of a loose Donegal rearguard to plant an unstoppable drive in the bottom left hand corner of the net. 

And before half-time John Boyle made sure that Derry exited with a commanding nine point advantage at 2-6 to 0-3.

Encouraging

Donegal got off to an encouraging enough opening to the second stanza as Callaghan landed his third of the afternoon from a routine free.

An unforced turnover, where Lorcan McGee coughed up cheap possession, allowed Derry to get off the mark after the restart as Boyle landed a point.

An underwhelming third quarter eventually passed and a 12-minute baron scoring spell was ended when Eamon Young floated over delightfully off the left peg to move Derry 2-8 to 0-4 up.

On 50 minutes, Derry increased their handsome advantage to 11 points when Speirs split the town end posts from wide on the stand side.

Donegal finally got back on the scoreboard six minutes out from the end when wingback Luke Clerkin registered while Callaghan brought the curtain down on Donegal’s scoring with the very last kick of the game.

Before the end, Derry consolidated their superiority with late overs from Spiers, Sargent (free) and Dillon (free) while McGuckin drilled in a late goal to round off a very impressive afternoon for the winners. 

Teams and scorers

Donegal scorers: Shane Callaghan 0-4,1f; Dylan Mulholland 0-1,1f; Luke Clerkin 0-1.  

Derry Scorers: Conall Higgins 0-3,2f; Cahir Speirs 1-2; James Sargent 1-1,1f; Johnny McGuckin 1-0; Ger Dillon 0-3,1f; John Boyle 0-1; Oisin Doherty 0-1; Eamon Young 0-1;

Donegal: Padraig Mac Giolla Bhride; Donal Gallagher, Jordi Gribben, Callum McCrea; Finbar Roarty, Darragh Hennigan, Luke Clerkin; Oisin Scanlan, Lorcan McGee; Jack Hegarty, Shane Callaghan, John James Sweeney; Dylan Mulholland, Canor McCahill, Gavin Doherty.

Subs: Eoin Gallagher and Eoghan Scott for Mulholland and Hegarty (both ht); Jack Gallagher for Sweeney (49); Donnacha Boyle and Ronan Maher for Doherty and D Gallagher (both 52);

Derry: Jack McCloy; Rory Small, Finbar Murray, Fionn McEldowney; Cahir Speirs, James Sargent, Odhran Campbell; Cahal McKaigue, Tommy Rogers; Eamon Young, Conall Higgins, Johnny McGuckin; Ger Dillon, John Boyle, Oisin Doherty.

Subs: Gabhan McIvor for McKaigue (19, inj); Luke Grant and Darach McGonigle for Rogers and Doherty (both 54); Deaglan McNamee and Dara McGuckin for Boyle and McEldowney (both 56).

Referee: Barry McMenamin (Cavan).