'We'll take the positives': Donegal blow Louth away in second half
Conor O'Donnell of Donegal celebrates after scoring his side's first goal against Louth. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
Jim McGuinness admitted that following his side’s loss to Tyrone in the first weekend of the round-robin series in the All-Ireland SFC, he always felt his team would have to go the long way round to reach the quarter-finals.
And so it proved, although whatever fears there were for Donegal on both the injury front and in terms of results following that 2-17 to 0-20 loss seem to have almost receded, with only Caolan McGonagle the one now trying to with his way back in.
Donegal got back on the road with wins over Cavan and Mayo to seal a place in the last 12 and then went through the gears to defeat Louth 2-22 to 0-12 at MacCumhaill Park.
“Very happy, very happy obviously, one game more than we wanted but at the same time we're happy to take the game,” McGuinness said in Ballybofey. “Whenever we were beaten by Tyrone we knew we'd be in this situation potentially and we were targeting these three weekends. So we're delighted we have an opportunity at the third game now.
“That's the most important thing, and we'll take the positives from the day, obviously loads and bits of pieces to work on as well, particularly in the first half in terms of decision making and stuff.”
When the Louth team bus took a wrong turn and ended up in county Sligo instead of Ballybofey, they might’ve figured it wasn’t going to be their day.
Coming from Enniskillen, where they had stayed, Louth eventually pulled into MacCumhaill Park less than 50 minutes before throw-in, behind the Garda sirens.
O’Donnell’s goal from a thundering Shaun Patton kick-out two minutes before the break gave Donegal a 1-6 to 0-7 lead at half-time. And although Louth would’ve been content enough with their first half, the hosts clicked in the second and Thompson slammed home a second.
In their eighth championship outing of the year so far, Michael Murphy was withdrawn a minute later with his return to Croke Park in mind.
The Ulster champions settled well and manufactured a lead of 0-5 to 0-1 by the 16th minute.
Peadar Mogan, Conor O’Donnell, a Michael Murphy free, Oisín Gallen and a fine Finnbarr Roarty point from distance did the damage, and all seemed routine enough. Louth’s only score in that first quarter came from Paul Matthews.
Ger Brennan’s Louth were well-structured and, as they blocked the channels for Donegal to run into, picked away at their disadvantage, with four successive points to level, with Ryan Burns personally responsible for three of those, while Craig Lennon was also on a mark.
At 0-5 to 0-5 and with Donegal looking jittery, Sam Mulroy had the chance to put Louth ahead, only to miss the free from in front of the terrace wide at the near side. And when Gallen restored Donegal’s lead with their first score in 16 minutes, Dara McDonnell soon equalised.
O’Donnell’s goal gave Donegal some breathing space, although Burns’ fourth of the half meant there was just the two in it at the changing of ends.
Although Mulroy took Louth back to just one down with a free, at 1-6 to 0-9, from the 41st minute on, Donegal outscored the Leinster winners 1-16 to 0-4.
Two-pointers from Murphy and then Michael Langan helped stretched the fap between the sides, as Gallen took his tally for the day up to five, with Daire Ó Baoill and Finnbarr Roarty ending up with two.
“The honest to God truth was human error in our navigation,” Brennan said of the awkward journey from Enniskillen. “We stayed in the Killyhevlin Hotel last night and it took us maybe two hours and 20 minutes to get here today. If we had left from our centre of excellence in Darver in Louth it would have taken us two hours and 11 minutes. So we gave ourselves an extra few minutes in the travel. It was human error in terms of navigation. But luckily we played well in the first half so maybe it worked.”
C O'Donnell (1-2), O Gallen (0-5), M Murphy (0-3, 1tp, 1f), M Langan (0-3, 1tp), F Roarty (0-2), C Thompson (1-0), D Ó Baoill (0-2), P Mogan, C McColgan, S O'Donnell, H McFadden, N O'Donnell (0-1)
R Burns (0-4); S Mulroy (0-3, 1f), P Matthews, C Lennon, D McDonnell, P Lynch, C Downey (0-1)
S Patton, F Roarty, B McCole, P Mogan; R McHugh, E Gallagher, C Moore; J McGee, M Langan; C McColgan, C Thompson, S O'Donnell; C O'Donnell, M Murphy, O Gallen (0-5). Subs: H McFadden for McGee (h-t), D Ó Baoill for McHugh (49), P McBrearty for Murphy (54), O McFadden-Ferry for Gallagher (57), N O’Donnell for C.O’Donnell (57).
N McDonnell; D Nally, D Campbell, D McKenny; E Carolan, P Lynch, C Lennon ; T Durnin, D McDonnell; C McKeever, C Downey, P Matthews; D Corcoran, S Mulroy, R Burns. Subs: C Grimes for Carolan (h-t), S Callaghan for Durnin (49), R Walsh for Matthews (54), K McArdle for Lennon (56), C Byrne for Burns (60).
B Cassidy (Derry).
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