Antrim stun Donegal

Donegal 0-12 Antrim 1-10

Antrim created a sensation at Ballybofey today with a shock Ulster SFC win, their first against Donegal since 1970.

It was also the Saffrons' first provincial championship victory since 2002. Interestingly, on that occasion, Cavan were the victims, and it’s the Breffni men who now await Liam Bradley’s braves in the semi-final.

Tomas McCann’s second-half goal proved to be the match-winner, but Donegal’s woeful shooting, which saw them amass a tally of 18 wides, was a major factor in the outcome.

Antrim opened up an early lead through Aodhan Gallagher and Paddy Cunningham, but they needed a reflex save from veteran goalkeeper Sean McGreevy in the eighth minute to avoid what would have been a major setback.

A flowing move involving Rory Kavanagh and Michael Hegarty ended with McGreevy stretching to keep out Conal Dunne’s shot with his foot.

However, the netminder was injured in the process, and was forced out of the action.

Donegal drew level by the 13th minute through Rory Kavanagh and Michael Murphy, from a free, but their shooting was badly astray throughout the first half, and by the interval, they had racked up no less than 10 wides.

Michael McCann and Murphy swapped frees, before Cunningham opened out a two-point lead for the Saffrons.

Donegal finally found the scoring tough late on, hitting the final three points of the half, two of them from teenager Murphy.

The home side led by 0-6 to 0-5 at the break, and went further ahead through Ciaran Bonner and Murphy.

However, Antrim were still not prepared to give way, and another flourish gave them back the lead, Tomas McCann easing them back in front in the 49th minute.

In the 57th minute, the unthinkable started to become possible, when Liam Bradley’s men crafted the only goal of the game.

Tony Scullion’s quickly taken sideline ball found McCann, and he netted on the rebound after Paul Durcan kept out his initial effort.

Donegal continued to create chances, and while they had a less than 50% success rate, they did claw back to within a point through Christy Toye.

It was substitute defender Kevin O’Boyle who sealed it for Antrim with a superb long-range effort a minute from the end.

Donegal: P Durcan, E McGee, N McGee, K Lacey, B Dunnion, K Cassidy, M McGuire, N Gallagher, B Boyle, C Bonner (0-1), M Hegarty, R Kavanagh (0-3), C McFadden (0-2, 2f), M Murphy (0-5, 3f, 1 ‘45’), C Dunne.

C Toye (0-1) for Dunnion (h-t), B Roper for Hegarty (50), D walsh for Dunne (52), F McGlynn for Boyle (59)

Antrim: S McGreevy,C Brady, A McLean, D McCann,T Scullion, J Crozier, J Loughrey, M McCann (0-1, f), A Gallagher (0-1),T O'Neill, K Brady (0-1), N McKeever, P Cunningham (0-4, 3f), S Burke, T McCann (1-2, 0-1 ‘45’).

Subs: K O’Boyle (0-1) for D McCann (49), K Niblock for Burke (50) C Close for Brady (54), B Hasson for McKeever (62)

Referee: P Hughes (Armagh).