Dogged Donegal get rub of the green
Five times in the last five summers, Armagh have bettered their hosts so any old win would have done Donegal yesterday.
That they did it with the help of a fortuitous injury-time goal made it all the sweeter.
There seemed to be little danger when Brendan Devenney launched a speculative point attempt high into the sun but Armagh goalkeeper Paul Hearty misjudged the dropping ball which fell under the crossbar and behind the line.
Kevin Cassidy’s looming shadow played its part in the goal, and the possibility of square ball was bandied about in the debrief, but there is no escaping the fact that Hearty was responsible for what was essentially a piece of grand larceny by the home side.
Armagh had dominated for much of the second-half, but Donegal have suffered under their yoke since 1993 – seven defeats and two draws in nine games — and will feel they deserved their slice of fortune, no matter how large it was.
The magnitude of the win is hard to exaggerate. This was Armagh’s first defeat in the Ulster Championship since Monaghan’s surprise victory in the first round back in 2003 but, when Joe Kernan views the tape, he will discount Hearty’s error and realise this was a game they let slip through their fingers.
When Stephen McDonnell struck his second point of the day, the provincial champions found themselves four points ahead with 21 minutes of normal time to play but they failed to raise another flag.
What will stick in their craw most is the fact that Donegal did very little to merit the win.
Maybe the sight of Armagh spooked them, but Brian McIver’s men reverted to their old bad habits – too many short balls, running into contact – when they should have been looking for space.
Despite pre-game claims to the contrary, the local consensus is that Ballybofey’s pitch is every bit as long and wide as Clones’ but, with 19,870 people crammed into the ground, it looked claustrophobic.
That suited Armagh who hassled and harried, who made light of their poor league form and the absences of key figures like Francie Bellew, Ronan Clarke and Brian Mallon.
McIver deviated from his midweek selection by starting Brian Roper and Rory Kavanagh instead of the partially fit Devenney and Kevin McMenamin, but all six of Donegal’s first-choice forwards struggled.
They managed only two points from play between them, in fact, the first from Christy Toye arriving only moments before referee John Bannon blew for half-time.
The only other score Donegal constructed from play in that period was an effort from wing-back Paddy McConagley and it was no coincidence that both scores owed their origins to quick ball that negated Armagh’s swarm tactics.
Armagh weren’t painting too many pretty patterns either. The first 20 minutes saw as many frees and it took some time for the players to shake the tension from their systems and concentrate on the football.
Martin O’Rourke was lucky to stay on the pitch after shoving McIver in the chest and Bannon was as lenient with Donegal’s Rory Kavanagh whose clothes-line tackle on Ciaran McKeever went unpunished less than ten minutes after he was booked.
Though the official showed nine yellow cards, a number of others were fortunate not to have their names taken in a game that was pockmarked by a succession of cynical fouls where players made no attempt to play the ball.
Far from a classic then but, by half-time, Donegal seemed poised for victory with a one-point lead, the breeze at their backs for the second 35 and the game having opened up a tad in the previous 15 minutes.
Instead, it was Armagh who revelled in the burgeoning space. Diarmaid Marsden took just 18 seconds to bring the sides level after the restart and Óisín McConville’s goal followed in its slipstream.
McDonnell set the scene, playing a clever crossfield pass into the path of Paddy McKeever whose shot rebounded off the legs of Paul Durcan and to McConville who was never going to miss from there.
Colm McFadden’s fourth free reduced the arrears to two but, when Kieran McGeeney swaggered upfield to match Stephen Kernan’s point from two minutes earlier, it was a score that seemed to bear the stamp of an exclamation mark.
The four-point advantage lasted until substitute Brian Roper curled over Donegal’s first point from play in the second period and even McFadden’s final free five minutes from time failed to set any alarm bells ringing in the visitors’ camp.
Devenney’s subsequent goal was their ‘get out of jail free’ card, but it is difficult to see a similar performance accounting for Tyrone in the semi-final in three weeks’ time.
P Durcan; N McGee, P Campbell, K Lacey; P McConagley (0-1), B Monaghan, B Dunnion; N Gallagher, K Cassidy; B Roper, C Bonner, R Kavanagh; M Hegarty, C Toye (0-1), C McFadden (0-6f).
Subs: A Sweeney (0-1) for Roper 50, B Devenney (1-0) for Hegarty 53, E McGee for Dunnion 61, K McMenamin for Bonner 67.
P Hegarty; B Donaghy, E McNulty, A Mallon; A Kernan (0-1), K McGeeney (0-1), C McKeever; K Toner, P McGrane; P McKeever, S Kernan (0-1), M O’Rourke; S McDonnell (0-2), D Marsden (0-1), O McConville (1-2, 2f).
Subs: M Mackin for O’Rourke 60, J Lavey for C McKeever 70.
J Bannon (Longford).
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
