Donegal show durability

THIS was about the survival of the fittest in the context of Donegal’s physical superiority in a bruising encounter at Brewster Park yesterday.

It was to their credit that they turned the game by playing the better football in the second half, though that came after Fermanagh lost Eamonn Maguire, their best forward in the first half, with a potentially serious head injury.

Donegal always looked likely to advance to the Bank of Ireland championship quarter-final against Cork next Saturday, after opening up a three-point gap and fighting off a determined late rally from the home side.