New order in Ulster as Donegal deliver

THE end of an era.

For the first time since 1998, a name other than Tyrone’s or Armagh’s will be inscribed on the Anglo-Celt Cup. The duopoly is finally broken.

It’s 13 years since a late Joe Brolly goal separated Derry and Donegal in the decider and the same neighbouring counties will meet again next month having navigated their way this far by very different means.

Derry’s evisceration of Armagh in one semi-final was cheered as a footballing masterclass, a game to resurrect one’s faith in the game of football, but yesterday’s hailed from the opposite side of the aesthetic spectrum.

After years of playing off-the-cuff football that saw them lurch from the ridiculous to the sublime, Donegal decided to ape their superiors with a more systematic and defensively-astute approach and it made for decidedly poor viewing.

Will they care? What do you think?

That this was a Donegal of a different hue was evident from the statistics alone, and one in particular. Having trailed by 0-6 to 0-1 inside half-an-hour, they allowed the reigning Ulster champions just three more points.

For Tyrone, it must have been like looking at a younger version of themselves in the mirror. And indeed it was. Mickey Harte fielded a team with seven 30-somethings and an average age of over 29. Donegal’s was just north of 24.

Previous Donegal teams would not have engineered such a u-turn but then that must be tempered with the realisation that this Tyrone team would not have left the door open so invitingly in a pomp which is now unquestionably behind them.

Yesterday was proof enough of that.

Though their credentials outside Ulster have failed to stand up to inspection this last two years, their domination of the province had been total. Derry, Antrim, Down and Monaghan had all been put to the sword in that time.

For a while here it looked like Donegal would fare little better. Tyrone’s speed of movement and interplay was exceptional in that first 30 minutes and Donegal’s newfangled Fort Knox proved to be more of a Maginot Line.

Rather than weave their way through endless bodies, Tyrone sought to pick scores off from just inside the 45. Four of those first six came from that avenue. At the other end, it was all very different, and depressing.

Time and again Donegal passed the ball laterally in front of the Tyrone massed ranks and, invariably, when an opening did arise it fell to the likes of midfielder Kevin Rafferty or defender Karl Lacey rather than a Colm McFadden or Michael Murphy.

Neither was it all about systems and tactics. Donegal may have been chasing a first provincial title since 1992 but Tyrone were quicker to the ball, hungrier for the extra 1% or 2% which would take them over the line.

It was all very impressive but flawed as Tyrone’s shooting boots would prove to be their Achilles’ heel. For every score recorded there was nearly two chances squandered with Brian McGuigan and Owen Mulligan guilty of a pair of wides inside 30 seconds alone.

Donegal made the most of such leeway and scored three unanswered points to trail by just two at the break. As a scoreline, it was in no way representative of the opening period but four shared points left the game on a knife edge going into the final quarter.

Crucially Tyrone’s loss of full-back Joe McMahon, who had given an accomplished performance on his return from a recent jaw injury before leaving the pitch concussed after a late tackle from Leo McLoone after 50 minutes, changed the game.

It took just seven minutes for Tyrone to pay the price. Donegal strung together a sublime move, with Colm McFadden finding the net from the spot McMahon had dominated.

The goal gave Donegal the lead for the first time and the sense that the sands of time were finally running out on Tyrone grew as the minutes passed and that slim, one-point lead remained intact.

Their problems mounted shortly after the concession of that goal when Kevin Hughes picked up two yellow cards in the space of a minute but the waywardness of Peter Harte from dead balls was even more expensive.

The wing-forward missed half a dozen frees and 45s, two alone in that closing segment, but a Martin Penrose point inside injury-time appeared to have consigned the sides to another meeting.

Appeared, but didn’t.

Donegal broke upfield two minutes later and, when Tyrone defender Martin Swift spilled a loose ball into the hands of Murphy, the Donegal captain teed up unmarked substitute Dermot Molloy for the winning goal.

Scorers for Donegal: C McFadden 1-1 (1f), D Molloy 1-0, M Murphy 0-2 (1f), K Cassidy, K Rafferty, P McBrearty 0-1 each.

Scorers for Tyrone: S O’Neill 0-2, S Cavanagh 0-2 (1f), P Jordan, B Dooher, P Harte (f), O Mulligan, M Penrose 0-1 each.

Substitutes for Donegal: M Hegarty for McElhinney (24), L McLoone for Brdaley (45), D Molloy for McLoone (63).

Substitutes for Tyrone: Justin McMahon for Joe McMahon (inj. 50), M Penrose for Mulligan (52), A Cassidy for O’Neill (63), T McGuigan for B McGuigan (63), C Cavanagh for Dooher (69).

Referee: Joe McQuillan (Cavan).