Eoin Dowling's early strike helps Donegal dethrone Tyrone

Tyrone 1-9 Donegal 1-12 

Donegal edged past Ulster U20 champions Tyrone to claim a Healy Park victory and set up a semi-final clash with Monaghan.

They led by seven at one stage, but the Red Hands fought back to set up a tight finish which the visitors resisted with some brave defending.

Donegal’s eighth-minute goal gave them the perfect platform, created from deep by Jamie Grant and Ryan McShane, and it was Ryan McFadden who provided the final pass for Eoin Dowling to drill home a clinical finish past Mark McGale.

Johnny McGroddy and McFadden tagged on points, and they led by 1-2 to 0-1 at the drinks break.

Luke Donnelly converted his third free, and points from Oisin McCann and Odhrán Robinson left just a point in it.

Robinson was shown a black five minutes before the break, and Donegal finished strongly with McGroddy and Shane O’Donnell finding the target to send them in with a 1-6 to 0-6 lead.

Tyrone avoided further damage while down to 14 men, and as both sides dropped men back to stifle their opponents, the game struggled to produce any fluency.

It wasn’t until the ninth minute of the second half that Rory O’Donnell got the first score, and the lads from Tír Chonaill were beginning to get a measure of control, winning a high percentage of Tyrone kick-outs.

McGroddy and Padraig McGettigan swung over eye-catching points as they reeled off four on the spin to open up a 1-10 to 0-6 advantage by the second drinks break.

Tyrone grabbed a lifeline when a defensive error gave Rory Donnelly the opportunity to rifle home a 50th-minute goal from Daniel Fullerton’s return pass.

Donnelly added another free to reduce the gap to two, but some excellent defensive work from Paul O’Hare, Jamie Grant, and Jack Gallagher helped Donegal through a difficult spell.

They rallied again for scores from Nathan Byrne and McGroddy to secure a place in the last four.

Scorers for Tyrone: R Donnelly 1-0; L Donnelly 0-5 (5 frees); D Fullerton, O Robinson, O McCann, C Bogue 0-1 each. 

Scorers for Donegal: E Dowling 1-1; J McGroddy 0-4 (3 frees); P McGettigan (1 free), R McFadden 0-2 each, R O’Donnell, S O’Donnell, N Byrne 0-1 each.

Tyrone: M McGale; J Rafferty, L McBride, C Quinn; N Kilpatrick, K Barker, T Quinn; S Daly, O McCann; C Daly, R Donnelly, R Duffin; C Bogue, O Robinson, L Donnelly.

Subs: O Mulgrew for Daly, M McGleenan for Duffin, D Fullerton for Daly, D Curran for Rafferty, S O’Donnell for Bogue.

Donegal: D Roberts; C McColgan, J Grant, J Gallagher; K Tobin, D McBride, R O’Rourke; R O’Donnell, R McFadden; E Dowling, S O’Donnell. R McShane; C O’Reilly, P McGettigan, J McGroddy.

Subs: C Moore for O’Reilly, P O’Hare for Tobin, R Frain for O’Donnell, N Byrne for Dowling, A Doherty for McGettigan.

Referee: J Lewis (Fermanagh).