Derry left ‘sick’ as Donegal book fifth final in a row

Donegal 1-9 Derry 0-10: If it was hardly intriguing, it was tight. Mercifully. Because in truth, Saturday’s Ulster SFC semi final in Clones had little else going for it as a spectacle.

Brian McIver and Derry were left to rue a slipped chance. A hat-tip to them for making life so difficult for a Donegal team coming off two excellent wins but they should be countered with criticism of their one-dimensional attacks.

Donegal never went behind in this game in front of 19,237 souls who never really sparked to life or, to be fair, had little reason to raise their voices. They commanded the middle third and although Derry had two purple patches in the middle of each half they looked more comfortable in trying to contain Donegal than actually nudge ahead of them.