Easy for Rebels as Donegal roasted

IT’S stating the obvious Cork would have preferred not to have had their anticipated place in the All-Ireland football semi-final wrapped up at such an early stage in Croke Park yesterday.

But that was the inevitable outcome from a game in which they were so dominant in every single aspect – lacking only the consistency of a 70-minute display which manager Conor Counihan alluded to afterwards. Donegal, to be brutally honest, fell flat on their faces.

The result, as good as guaranteed even before Cork turned over at half-time leading 0-13 to 0-3, was all the more surprising in the context of them being inactive for over a month and Donegal having put a string of good performances together in the qualifier series, culminating in an impressive win over Galway the previous weekend.

But, for all the reasons why they are seen as dark horses for the Sam Maguire by a growing number of people – their ability foremost, supplemented by their experience, their support play and, crucially a strong physical presence throughout the field – they had little difficulty in imposing their will on the game from an early stage.

If one considers Donegal scored two of their three first-half scores inside the opening 13 minutes, it was easy to understand how much of a struggle it was for them to make progress and to contain – even to limit – the Munster champions’ all-encompassing football.

The simple fact is that they were conceding possession all over the place and, where it mattered most, they were not equipped to subject the Cork defence to any real pressure. By way of illustration, all three Cork half-backs had plenty of opportunities to go forward and the returning John Miskella (badly missed against Limerick) enhanced a man-of-the-match display with three points in the first half and another later on.

While the Donegal management would have been pinning a lot of their hopes in attack on the experienced Brian Roper, Rory Kavanagh and Colm McFadden, the reality was that neither individually nor as a unit, did they threaten.

But 19-year-old Michael Murphy at full-forward certainly made an impact, stretching Cork full-back Michael Shields alarmingly. He scored six points, three from play, and also had a big say in both Donegal goals.

Gradually building up an advantage on the scoreboard – and affording the luxury of missed goal opportunities by replacement forward Colm O’Neill and Daniel Goulding in the 11th and 16th minutes respectively – Donegal made only occasional forays deep into the Cork attack. And, to make matters worse, some of the ball delivered to the forwards was of poor quality.

While half-time couldn’t come quickly enough for manager John Joe Doherty, who made two changes in the half-forward line on the restart, there was no early indication of the trend of the game being altered. Actually, with Paul Kerrigan putting the ball in the net after eight minutes (put through by Paddy Kelly after outstanding midfielder Alan O’Connor initiated the move), they wasted another goal chance shortly afterwards when Donnacha O’Connor was narrowly wide.

Cork had extended their lead to 16 points before Michael Murphy pointed a free and team captain Rory Kavanagh finished off one of Donegal’s best moves of the game with a 54th minute goal. However, other than rewarding their players for maintaining their effort (and admirably playing within the rules), it was of little concern to Cork.

And, while the second Donegal goal (from substitute Stephen Griffin in the 68th minute) came far too late to give them even a glimmer of a hope of recovering, for a Cork backline which was again without selected corner-back Anthony Lynch, there was the issue of not being as effective in their covering as they had for the greater part of the game.

However, nothing could take from a really impressive performance overall which confirms the progress that has been made on a continual basis under Conor Counihan. Bring on the All-Ireland champions.

Scorers for Cork: P. Kerrigan 1-3; D. O’Connor (0-3 frees) and J. Miskella 0-4 each; D. Goulding and P. Kelly 0-3 each; P. Kelly, C. O’Neill, P. O’Neill and F. Goold 0-2 each; G. Canty and F. Lynch 0-1 each.

Scorers for Donegal: M. Murphy 0-6 (0-3 frees); R. Kavanagh and S. Griffin 1-0 each; B. Roper, E. McGee, B. Monaghan and A. Hanlon 0-1 each.

Subs for Cork: F. Goold for A. O’Connor (45); F. Lynch for C. O’Neill (51); M. Cussen for Murphy (53); P. Kissane for Miskella (66).

Subs for Donegal: D. Walsh for McLoone and S. Griffin for Roper (ht); D. Gallagher for B. Boyle (48); A. Hanlon for Dunne (53); E. Wade for E. McGee (66).

Referee: M. Deegan (Laois).