Durcan hoping to steer Donegal into winning position again

Ask Paul Durcan what swung the All-Ireland semi-final against Dublin in favour of Donegal and he will plump for what he terms his side’s "exceptional attacking play", but the goalkeeper was the lead character in the passion play’s seminal moment.

Jim McGuinness’ side were trailing eight points to four after 24 minutes when the seas parted just enough for Diarmuid Connolly to work a goal opportunity. Score and, the collective consensus has it, Donegal were done.

The dam was creaking by then. They had already survived one major scare 12 minutes beforehand when Neil McGee managed to get a hand to a James McCarthy square pass that had Bernard Brogan’s name and ‘goal’ written all over it.