Donegal's Murphy out of Tyrone showdown

Cavan 1-8 Donegal 2-14

Michael Murphy has been ruled out of the Ulster SFC semi-final against Tyrone on June 26.

Donegal’s star forward and captain was sent off on a straight red card after 15 minutes of his side’s runaway win over Cavan at Breffni Park.

The men from the north-west had little trouble in brushing aside the challenge of an inexperienced Cavan side which had six debutants on board, including five of the Ulster U21 Championship winning squad.

Even without Murphy, Donegal had too much firepower, with Colm McFadden turning in a vintage display, and minor star Paddy McBrearty celebrating his first senior start with a 1-3 tally.

An explosive start to the game saw both sides lose key men to straight red cards inside the opening 15 minutes

Cavan’s Ray Culllivan was first to walk, after aiming a boot into Kevin Cassidy’s body as he fielded a high ball.

But both sides were down to 14 men when Donegal lost Murphy after he struck Damien Reilly.

Donegal had failed to score during their eight minutes with an extra man, and it took them until the 20th minute to draw level at 0-2 each with a n added to Murphy’s fourth minute score.

Donegal struck for a goal on 21 minutes, minor star Paddy McBrearty collecting Mark McHugh’s sideline ball to finish low past James Reilly.

And Tir Chonail followed up with a string of points, one a majestic long range effort from McFadden, to move 1-5 to 0-3 ahead.

McBrearty’s stoppage time score sent them in at the break with a 1-6 to 0-3 advantage.

The game was over as a contest by the ninth minute of the second half when Rory Kavanagh raced though to drill home a second goal after being released by McFadden.

McFadden and McBrearty used their ball-winning talents to tag on quality points, and there was a score also for substitute Leo McLoone, making his comeback from a broken ankle sustained in March.

Fergal Flanagan’s 58th minute effort was just Cavan’s second score from play, and they never looked like staging a revival.

Substitute Michael Brennan and McDermott pulled back points, but two tidy efforts from Donegal sub saw Jim McGuinness’ men finish in style.

Cavan: J Reilly, D Sheridan, P Carroll, D O’Dowd, N Murray, J McCutcheon, D Reilly, D Givney, G McKiernan (0-1), R Cullivan, M Lyng, F Flanagan (0-1), N McDermott (0-4, 3f), E Keating, S Johnston (0-1, f).

Subs: G Smith for Lyng (44), M McKeever for D Reilly (48), T Corr for Sheridan (51), C Mackey for Murray (58), M Brennan (1-1) for Keating

Donegal: P Durcan, K Lacey, N McGee, P McGrath, K Cassidy (0-1), A Thompson, M Boyle, R Kavanagh (1-0), K Rafferty (0-1), M McHugh, M McElhinney, R Bradley, P McBrearty (1-3, 0-1f), M Murphy (0-1, f), C McFadden (0-5, 2f).

Subs: M Hegarty for McElhinney (29), L McLoone (0-1) for Cassidy (52), D Molloy (0-2) for Bradley (56), N Gallagher for Rafferty (59), D Walsh for McHugh (60)

Referee: M Duffy (Sligo).