Donegal’s game-plan bears fruit

Derry 0-11 Donegal 1-11

Every day’s a school day, says Jim McGuinness. He taught us a valuable lesson yesterday: persistence beats patience every time.

At half-time yesterday, it was Derry’s patience that was the standout factor. Spreading the ball across the field to change the point of attack in a bid to seek an opening, their maturity was rightly being lauded from a height.

But ultimately it was Donegal’s persistence that won out. If the first half was about containment, the second was about articulation followed by control.

In 13 dazzling minutes, they outscored Derry by 1-5 to 0-0 and transformed a two-point deficit at half-time, 0-6 to 0-4, into a six-point lead.

The 39th-minute goal was a masterfully worked score from a Derry kick-out: Anthony Thompson sending a diagonal ball to Michael Murphy who fed an onrushing Frank McGlynn and his looping handpass was perfect for Leo McLoone to cushion the ball past Thomas Mallon.

With Murphy firmly placed in the full-forward line after a first half stationed largely around the middle, Donegal had their target men. Colm McFadden, on his 150th appearance for the county, had a rare off-day, as did Paddy McBrearty.

It was actually a McBrearty point in the 48th minute, which widened Donegal’s advantage to six and muted most of the 15,883 in Celtic Park.

“We knew from the analysis that Derry were going to play possession football,” said McGuinness, “and we were trying to be patient, and I thought we did it really well and we knew Derry were going to do that. We knew Derry would try to nullify that and it’s difficult when you are missing some of your key players in the middle of the park.

“There was a challenge for us, there was a breeze and we wanted to lay a foundation for the second half so we could get some good ball into Michael and that’s how it panned out.”

Turning from hound to hare, Donegal didn’t look back. Mark Lynch’s 51st-minute free was Derry’s first score in 20 minutes and although they did manage to reduce the arrears to two points by the 63rd minute, Lynch’s fourth score of the afternoon was their last of the game.

“We showed great character and there is nobody in there pointing fingers at anybody,” remarked Brian McIver.

“We accept the fact that we are up against a real good side today. We really, really put them to the test. Donegal got the breaks, we didn’t.”

By the end, Derry had run out of ideas. They were still hand-passing the ball laterally but couldn’t find a chink as Donegal had, in true McGuinness fashion, adopted DEFCON status.

Derry may have felt Joe McQuillan wasn’t as fair to them as he was to Donegal but that would neglect to mention Patsy Bradley’s black card offence in the sixth minute which the referee chose not to punish properly.

Ten minutes later, Fergal Doherty, who had started promisingly, had to be helped off the field after a heavy tackle. Without Bradley on top of Doherty in the middle, Derry may concede in the clear light of day they were luckier than they perceived.

With the wind in the first half, the home team went ahead on three occasions inside the opening 20 minutes. A marvellous point from Doherty’s replacement Niall Holly put them 0-4 to 0-3 in the 22nd minute. When Emmet Bradley added another with a free after a Ryan McHugh foul on Patsy Bradley and then Ciaran McFaul sent one over, Derry were truly in the ascendancy.

They were managing to soak up plenty of Donegal pressure too. McBrearty did flash a gilt-edged goal chance wide in the 11th minute but their full-backs, Gareth McKinless and Dermot McBride, were otherwise winning their personal battles.

But for a misjudged Holly soccer-style pass just before half-time, Derry may have been in for a goal having forced Donegal into a turnover.

They were left to regret it as Donegal, with Neil Gallagher coming on for Christy Toye at half-time, made midfield their own and gave Murphy the platform to crush Derry.

That James Kielt wasn’t issued a red card in injury-time for a black and a yellow was of little consequence to either team.

By that stage, class was dismissed. School was out. Donegal had become the teachers again.

Scorers for Derry: M Lynch 0-4 (3f), E Bradley 0-3 (2f), B Heron 0-2 (1 45), N Holly, C McFaul 0-1 each.

Scorers for Donegal: L McLoone 1-1, M Murphy 0-4 (2f, 1 s/l), D O’Connor, C Toye, K Lacey, L Thompson, P McBrearty, M McElhinney 0-1 each.

Subs for Derry: N Holly for F Doherty (inj 16); B Heron for Holly (blood, 39-43); R Bell for C O’Boyle (43); B Heron for N Holly (49); O Duffy for K Johnson (59); J Kielt for E McGuckin (61); C McGoldrick for E Bradley (68); J Kielt (black card, 70+1).

DONEGAL: P Durkan; E McGee, N McGee, P McGrath; F McGlynn, K Lacey, A Thompson; C Toye, O Mac Niallais; D O’Connor, L McLoone, R McHugh; P McBrearty, M Murphy, C McFadden.

Subs for Donegal: N Gallagher for C Toye (ht), M McElhinney for D O’Connor (43), D Walsh for O Mac Niallais (58), L Keaney for P McBrearty (65), D Molloy for C McFadden (68).

Referee: J McQuillan (Cavan).