Murphy penalty the clincher for Donegal

NOT for the first time, a controversial refereeing decision played an inordinately prominent part in deciding the outcome of a game in Croke Park but, this being the second tier of the league, no-one got too hot and bothered about it all.

When Marty Duffy blew his whistle for the last time, the Donegal boys didn’t sink to the turf in knee-bending joy. Neither did their Laois counterparts succumb to gravity after the latest example of sport’s unending appetite for the controversial.

Hey, it is still April after all.

There were just 19 minutes played when Donegal were awarded what in this business is euphemistically labelled a ‘soft’ penalty after corner-back Darren Strong did no more than brush up against Michael Murphy in the Laois area.

Murphy, who fired a last-minute penalty against the crossbar in last year’s All-Ireland U21 final that cost his county the title, picked himself up to hammer the kick home off the underside of the woodwork.

“Some referees will give it, some won’t,” said Laois manager Justin McNulty of the offending decision. “We have no complaints about it really. You have to be very, very careful about making any sort of contact in the square.”

And that was that. Case closed.

For both Donegal and Laois, yesterday wasn’t about making the journey up the steps of the Hogan Stand, it was about the acres covered by both sets of players in the 70 minutes prior to it ahead of next month’s championship matches.

Donegal, for their part, will know that league performances and trophies are no guarantee of summer success after winning the Division 1 title four years ago and then sinking like a stone in the deeper and more treacherous championship waters.

“History is not going to dictate the game we play on the 15th of May (against Antrim),” said manager Jim McGuinness. “It will be our training between now and then that dictates how we do. If we don’t train hard and aren’t focused then it could be in line with what you are saying.”

After 35 minutes of this final it was difficult to envisage many scenarios whereby either of these teams would be holding our attention for much of the campaign to come. It was poor football and it was negative football.

Laois signalled their intent with less than a minute on the clock and Donegal embarking on their first attack when, MJ Tierney apart, every one of their outfield players flooded back to within their own third of the pitch.

It was a game almost devoid of shape with players popping up everywhere and anywhere. At one stage in the second half a king-sized duvet could have been thrown over 26 of the 30 players out on the pitch.

McGuinness felt Donegal had been second best in the physical stakes when the teams met in Portlaoise a fortnight ago and responded by aping McNulty’s ploy of fielding three midfielders. The result was a stalemate that wasn’t broken until after the interval.

Spare defenders were also very much the order of the day on both sides but Donegal were able to engineer more opportunities Colm McFadden having a fisted effort batted away by Eoin Culliton and Dermot Molloy hitting the butt of a post inside the first five minutes.

Laois, in fairness, managed a couple of fine points themselves with Niall Donoher floating one over with the outside of his boot and John O’Loughlin capping a smooth team move.

By the break, Murphy’s goal was the only difference between them, 1-5 to 0-5, but both sides had left considerably more scores behind them and, while Donegal had more wides, Tierney’s off-day from frees was more worrying for Laois.

The Parnells clubman bagged 10 points from dead balls and a goal from play two weeks back but he was overshadowed by the excellence of Donegal’s Murphy and Colm McFadden this time around.

Murphy kicked the first score of the second half within seconds of the restart, provided the pass for McFadden to claim the game’s second goal and a Murphy free soon after left Donegal eight to the good.

That last score came on the heels of Adrian Hanlon’s dismissal for a second yellow card and Laois took full advantage by rattling off the next six points.

Donegal stemmed the bleeding with three of the next four points but Laois kept plugging away, dragging themselves back into the game point by point but they had their chances to claim the goal that would have accelerated the chase.

O’Loughlin tipped one over the bar when Cahillane was unmarked beside him in the box while Donie Kingston saw an effort from distance diverted over by the otherwise undisturbed Paul Durkan in the Donegal goal.

No matter. Bigger days lie ahead.

Scorers for Donegal: C McFadden 1-3 (0-1 free); M Murphy 1-3 (0-1 45, 0-1 free); K Cassidy 0-1; R Kavanagh 0-1; M McHugh 0-1; R Bradley 0-1; D Walsh 0-1.

Scorers for Laois: D Kingston 0-4 (1 free); P Cahillane 0-3; R Munnelly 0-2; J O’Loughlin 0-2; N Donoher 0-2; C Begley 0-1; MJ Tierney 0-1 1 free); D Strong 0-1.

Substitutes for Donegal: N Gallagher for Rafferty 43, D McLaughlin for Molloy 54, D Walsh for McElhinney 59.

Substitutes for Laois: C Healy for Booth 30, P Cahillane for Clancy 35, D Kingston for Tierney 43, K Lillis for Sheehan 66.

Referee: Marty Duffy (Sligo).