Donegal survive last-minute scare to claim win

Donegal 1-13 Meath 0-14

Yet, while nobody could deny Donegal their merited victory in yesterday's Bank of Ireland football championship qualifier in Croke Park, they were extremely fortunate not to concede a goal in the very last passage of play.

Meath fought with typical spirit, but not their usual flair in attack and never quite recovered from conceding the game's only goal minutes before the interval.

Just like the opening game, it wasn't the outcome that had been generally anticipated. And, to be fair to the Donegal players and the management, there was never a stage in either half when one might have doubted their capabilities. The only pity was that it was a dour contest, characterised by an unnecessary amount of niggling play on and off the ball mainly in the first half which was partly compensated for by an exciting last quarter.

Lining out without team captain Mark Crossan, who was forced off injured in the Ulster final (and giving his full back replacement Eamon Doherty the number 17 jersey), Donegal made the early running, with Brendan Devenney's accuracy from frees twice putting them in front in 12 minutes before Meath led for the first of only two times through a Trevor Giles fifty in the 16th minute.

The ability of the Meath backs to read the game cleverly won them good ball under pressure with Darren Fay bettering Devenney in play. Equally, Donegal gained little from their ploy of using left corner forward Paul McGonigle as a third midfielder.

Up front, Adrian Sweeney threatened regularly to the extent that Mark O'Reilly was yellow carded for repeat pulling offences, before Sweeney himself was carded.

At the other end, Meath were making surprisingly little headway, partly because the quality of ball.

Ollie Murphy was often poor while Graham Geraghty found it hard to make progress against Doherty. Outside, Trevor Giles worked ceaselessly on the wing, but didn't exert a strong influence.

Notably, Donegal promised a goal, from Christy Toye, in the 22nd minute, until Nigel Crawford (now very much to the forefront), got his way to deflect his shot. But after Meath hit one of their best spells with three points in three minutes to edge in front, Toye had the ball in the net in the 31st minute. Devenney played a crucial role, getting his foot to a ball in the ground for which defenders Cormac Murphy and Paddy Reynolds were challenging for, and making the opening. It saw Donegal turn over 1-7 to 0-6 in front at the break.

From a position of being five points behind by the 57th minute, Meath had the margin reduced to three on three separate occasions before there was the real promise of a rally. That was after Ollie Murphy kicked over a powerful score in the 59th minute and three minutes later midfielder John Cullinane an even better one to leave just a single point between the sides.

Significantly, however, Donegal had come back strongly at midfield.

The backs continued to play with confidence and, with Brian Roper and Sweeney a constant threat on the left wing, Meath found themselves under too much pressure to concentrate on saving the game.

Referee Michael Collins frustrated a lot of players and supporters on both sides. He wasn't that bad, but he left more fouls go unpunished than he should have. At times he didn't get a lot of help from the players.

Scorers for Donegal: B. Devenney 0-5 frees; C. Toye 1-1; A. Sweeney 0-4 (0-1 free); J. McGuinness, B. Roper and M. Hegarty 0 1 each.

Meath: O. Murphy, T. Giles (0-1 free, 0-1 fifty), G. Geraghty, N. Crawford (0-1 free) and R. Kealy (0-1 free), 0-2 each; A. Kenny, N. Nestor, J. Cullinane and D. Curtis 0-1 each.

DONEGAL: T. Blake; S. Carr, E. Doherty, N. McGinley; R. Sweeney, B. Monaghan, K. Cassidy; J. Gildea, J. McGuinness; C. Toye, M. Hegarty, B. Roper; A. Sweeney, B. Devenney, P. McGonigle. Sub: D. Diver for Toye (68th minute).

MEATH: C. Sullivan; M. O'Reilly, D. Fay, C. Murphy; P. Shankey, N. Nestor, P. Reynolds; N. Crawford, J. Cullinane; E. Kelly, A. Kenny, T. Giles (capt); O. Murphy, G. Geraghty, R. Kealy. Subs: D. Crimmins for Murphy (second half); D. Curtis for Shankey (46th minute); S. Kenny for A. Kenny (46th).

Referee: M. Collins (Cork).

Attendance: 43,682.