Donegal deliver as Cavan stunned by McHugh’s late goal

Donegal 1-07 Cavan 0-09: A goal two minutes into injury-time from Ryan McHugh dumped four in a row Ulster champions Cavan from the Ulster U21 championship at the quarter-final in Ballybofey last night.

With the Breffni County having won each of the last titles since Jim McGuinness’s Donegal variety of 2010, their loss to Maxi Curran’s contemporaries signals something of an end of an era.

The home side dominated the first quarter and led 0-5 to 0-1 by the 16th minute with Ciaran Thompson on the mark three times. However, Cavan, with Caoimhin O’Reilly popping over 0-3, were only 0-5 to 0-4 down at half-time.

Cavan were the better side in the second half and went two up on two occasions. McHugh saw a penalty saved by Mark Fegan and it looked like points from Enda Flanagan and O’Reilly would win it for Cavan but it was not to be.

Scorers for Donegal:

R McHugh 1-1 (1f), C Thompson 0-3, D McDaid (f), D Mulgrew, H McFadden (’45) 0-1 each

Scorers for Cavan:

C O’Reilly (3f) 0-4, C Madden 0-2, M Argue, J McCabe, E Flanagan (f) 0-1 each

DONEGAL:

D Rodgers; C Morrison, C Parke, J O’Brien; T McClenaghan, R McHugh, E Gallagher; D Mulgrew, H McFadden; C Thompson, E McHugh, O Crawford; D O’Connor, D McDaid, S McBrearty. Subs: C Mulligan for McDaid (h-t), R Carr for O’Connor (49), E McGrath for McBrearty (49)

CAVAN:

M Fegan; B Fortune, M Magee, F Reilly; G Smith, P Faulkner, C Brady; K Brady, M Argue; J McCabe, C Madden, A Watson; C O’Reilly, T Hayes, E Flanagan. Subs: V Coyle for McCabe (51), N Walsh for Madden (55), N Clerkin for Fortune (black card, 56), C Daly for Faulkner (58), R Connolly for O’Reilly (59).

Referee:

S Hurson (Tyrone)