Sheer determination pulls Donegal back from brink

Dublin 2-8 Donegal 0-14

From their perspective, a massive show of character in the closing minutes earned Donegal a well-merited draw in the last of the Bank of Ireland football championship quarter-finals in Croke Park with three late points. Conversely, absent manager Tommy Lyons watching from his hospital room would have felt, along with most in the packed stadium, that Dublin were on course for victory after full-forward Ray Cosgrove scored his second goal in the 64th minute.

That would also have been the general consensus at that precise stage in the contest because of the huge psychological boost it gave the favourites. Yet, only a few minutes earlier, after scores had been level for the seventh time in the match (through Dublin midfielder Ciaran Whelan), a draw looked increasingly likely. Ultimately, it was secured through the finishing of the team's top scorer Adrian Sweeney, with two points in the space of a minute.

Notable for the reason that it took over 12 minutes to produce the first score, for Dublin the game began at a frenetic pace with a lot of hard tackles being put in and each side losing a player through injury the Donegal centre-back Barry Monaghan as early as the third minute and Dublin wing-back Paul Casey seven minutes later.

Again Donegal deployed their two-man full-forward line consisting of Brendan Devenney and Sweeney and while Devenney wasn't to score from play, he contributed four valuable points from frees, two of which he earned himself. Added to five from play from Sweeney, it represented a considerable return and it highlighted the vulnerability of their respective 'markers', Paddy Christie and Coman Goggins, at different stages.

Equally so, the Donegal fullback line was also exposed at stages, as for instance when Cosgrove went through for his opening goal, in the 16th minute, when he won possession from a through ball hit by substitute Darren Magee and finished clinically. In general, however, the threat from the Dublin attack was sporadic, for the reason that they weren't winning enough clean possession around midfield and didn't penetrate frequently enough at half-forward.

The end result was that the game remained very close and extremely competitive, with Donegal going back into the lead briefly in the 24th minute through Sweeney. After Alan Brogan scored what proved to be his only point his high work-rate wasn't matched by the type of finishing he showed in the other games Dublin had a let-off when Devenney powered a shot narrowly wide after his first run at goal.

They benefited greatly from the strong play of John Gildea who performed a similar role to Darragh Ó Sé in the way he did a lot of covering in defence. And it was significant that Monaghan's replacement, Damien Diver, not only settled in quickly (at right-half), but also had the confidence to go forward and score twice. At the break, Dublin were a point in front, 1-4 to 0-6, after he had called play back when Christy Toye pointed for Donegal and awarded a free which Sweeney put wide.

Gildea, who was to exert an even stronger influence in the second half (and got more support from Jim McGuinness), had scores level for the first of five times in the second half within two minutes. And it was to be notable that Donegal would go in front three times before Dublin regained the lead through their second goal.

To Donegal's great credit, they showed admirable resolve in the way they continued to force the pace, maintaining a strong challenge in attack and improving their defensive covering.

Dublin were doing better at half-back and promised more at midfield when Ciaran Whelan became more involved.

However, they were fortunate not to concede a goal in the 42nd minute when goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton brought off a marvellous save from Devenney.

There was little enough between the teams over the next 15 minutes, although Jason Sherlock's introduction added more impetus to the Dublin half-forward line.

On a few occasions the referee infuriated players on both sides (and the crowd) with some bad decisions, as each in turn struggled to gain an advantage.

It seemed that Dublin had achieved that with Brogan's second goal (set up by Sherlock, incidentally). And, whatever questions might be asked about their failure to protect that lead, you had to admire Donegal's fighting spirit and, most of all, the single-mindedness displayed by Sweeney when he won a vital ball against the Dublin captain Goggins out near the right corner and powered his way through before punching over the equaliser. It was no more than the players or their inspirational manager Mickey Moran deserved.

Gerry Kinneavy, who achieved notoriety after the infamous cards issue involving Cork minor Kieran Murphy against Derry two years ago, didn't exactly fail in his first major test. However, he spoiled a reasonably good overall display with at least half a dozen mistakes which should be unacceptable at this level.

Scorers: Dublin R. Cosgrove 2-2 (0-1 free); C. Whelan, S. Ryan, S. Connell, A. Brogan, J. McNally and D. Magee 0-1 each.

Donegal: A. Sweeney 0-5; B. Devenney 0-4 frees; D. Diver 0-2; J. McGuinness (fifty), J. Gildea and P. McGonigle 0-1 each,

DUBLIN: S. Cluxton; B. Cahill, P. Christie, C. Goggins (capt.); P. Casey, J. Magee, P. Andrews; C. Whelan, D. Homan; C. Moran, S. Ryan, S. Connell; A. Brogan, R. Cosgrove, J. McNally.

Subs: D. Magee for Casey (injured, 10th minute); D. Farrell for Connell (48th); J. Sherlock for Moran (51st); Connell for Ryan (66th); K. Darcy for Homan (69th).

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. Subs: D. Diver for Monaghan (injured 6th minute); B. McLaughlin for Roper (55th); K. Rafferty for Toye (65th); B. Boyle for McGuinness (66th).

Referee: G. Kinneavy (Roscommon).

Attendance: 77,298 (Leinster final 78,003).