Sport

Patrick McBrearty glosses over Donegal's areas of concern

Donegal's Patrick McBrearty after kicking one of his 11 points during Saturday's All-Ireland Qualifier win over Cork<br />Picture by Seamus Loughran &nbsp;
Donegal's Patrick McBrearty after kicking one of his 11 points during Saturday's All-Ireland Qualifier win over Cork
Picture by Seamus Loughran  
Donegal's Patrick McBrearty after kicking one of his 11 points during Saturday's All-Ireland Qualifier win over Cork
Picture by Seamus Loughran  

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Qualifiers round 4B:


Donegal 0-21 Cork 1-15

IT’S hard to take this game away from Patrick McBrearty, because he deserves every ounce of praise that showers him, but Donegal will be more worried than they will be enthused.

With Dublin to come on Saturday, this was a return to winning ways and an impressive scoreline to rack up, but there was just as much to concern Rory Gallagher. Start with the positives, though. McBrearty was indeed sublime. Some of the scores he kicked were sumptuous.

Eleven points he kicked, seven of them from play, in one of the best individual displays of the summer. The Cork defence found him completely unmanageable, though a handful of poor performances in their ranks didn’t help. They never seemed to learn to keep him off his left foot. He was allowed to be so good because they put Michael Murphy in beside him. It reaped grand rewards. Not for Murphy himself, who scored just once from play. But for McBrearty, it was the release he needed.

Eoin Cadogan had a nightmare afternoon, struggling with both McBrearty and Murphy at different times. Tom Clancy had no more joy on Kilcar’s finest, and he took Sean Powter for a late score for good measure as well. McBrearty’s contribution of over half of Donegal’s tally was the performance that fans of Donegal club football have seen in him on a weekly basis.

Instead of being confronted by two sweepers and being left to his own devices, Rory Gallagher gave him a chance to shine by positioning Murphy beside him for the whole of the first half. Balance was something they badly lacked, though. When Murphy was inside, there was an absolute chasm of space behind the Donegal half-back line. It was reminiscent of how Monaghan defended against Donegal in the Ulster semi-final replay - plenty of bodies back, but a lack of any sort of cohesion or pressure.

Pushing out allowed them to score eleven first half points, but they conceded 1-9 to a Cork side that was far from brilliant. Consider that Peter Kelleher hardly touched leather in open play and Donnacha O’Connor was only sparingly involved, yet Donegal conceded ten scores.

They set up with Anthony Thompson as their sweeper, but he sat right in beside his full-back line. The rest of their defence stood on the 45’ and the space in between was one of real gain for Cork. The Rebels’ first three scores came off a single runner into that space. Tom Clancy, Kevin O’Driscoll and Sean Powter all raised white flags as the gold ranks sat off.

Barring the last ten minutes, when Cork tried to force goals, Donegal’s defensive performance was uncharacteristically porous. Heading to play Dublin next weekend, they will be seriously worried. Murphy playing inside was effective in an attacking sense but if ever a game showed how much they need two of him, this was it.

Having played the Ulster final on their own terms, they started off being dictated to by Cork here. Donegal were in trouble at 1-6 to 0-4 down after 17 minutes. Neil McGee was robbed of possession in the Cork half and from the resulting break, he also allowed Paul Kerrigan to cut inside too easily. Nothing could have been done about the Rebel captain’s wonderful finish though, brushing the underside of the bar on its way.

For the next nine minutes, Donegal pushed right up on the Cork kickout, having initially stood off. Eoin McHugh - who tormented Cork as well - and McBrearty hit three points between them to cut the gap quickly back to two. That was the foothold they needed and after Kevin O’Driscoll landed his second point, Murphy, Ryan McHugh and Karl Lacey pointed in succession to put Donegal into an improbably 0-11 to 1-7 lead after 31 minutes.

Cork settled and Tom Clancy levelled it before Donnacha O’Connor kicked them into a one-point half-time lead, though it would have been wider had it not been for a redemptive block by Neil McGee from Ian Maguire’s goalbound shot. Eoin Cadogan had been switched off McBrearty after his five points from play in the opening 35 minutes, and Tom Clancy did do measurably better, but it was still the ace in the Donegal pack in the second half.

The third quarter had the look of a game that was destined for extra-time. The lead changed hands back and forth, with fine scores from Ryan McHugh, Mark Collins and Aidan Walsh offering spark to a game that lacked in any real defensive intensity. Indeed, when placed against the spectacle of Mayo and Westmeath an hour later – neither of them likely to win an All-Ireland – it was seriously lacking in intensity.

As much as McBrearty was the star and Eoin McHugh was the legs, the last 15 minutes were as much about Christy Toye. No sooner on than he was booked for not wearing his gumshield, he did terrific work to break up two Cork attacks and displayed all the knowledge and experience he’s gathered when he was on the ball.

Leo McLoone also impacted in a rare appearance from the bench, while Kieran Gillespie did himself no harm either. Michael Murphy’s willingness to start crashing into men also set the tone for a much more robust defensive performance from the Tír Chonaill men in the final 20 minutes.

From 1-14 to 0-17 on the hour, Donegal got the run on it. Eoin McHugh and Odhran Mac Niallais – who was quiet – drew frees that McBrearty and Murphy pointed before Ryan McHugh lashed them three ahead from a standing start. Six added minutes gave Peadar Healy’s side hope but they were no sooner started than Colm O’Neill, who had done well up until that, missed a simple free from 30 yards. That sucked all the heart out of Cork and McBrearty put the stake through them when he swung a beautiful eleventh point off McLoone’s piece of quick thinking.

Paddy McGrath’s injury-time block from Brian O’Driscoll was the only real piece of defending Donegal had to do in the closing moments. But if ever an afternoon proved how much Donegal need two Michael Murphys, this was it.

MATCH STATS


Donegal: MA McGinley; P McGrath, N McGee, E McGee; R McHugh (0-3), K Lacey (0-1), F McGlynn (0-1); R Kavanagh, O Mac Niallais (0-1); M McElhinney, A Thompson, E McHugh (0-2); P McBrearty (0-11, 0-4f), M Murphy (0-2, 0-1f), M O’Reilly; Subs: K Gillespie for E McGee (43), L McLoone for Kavanagh (45), C Toye for Thompson (55), M McHugh for McGlynn (61), E Doherty for N McGee (68), H McFadden for McElhinney (70); Black card: P McBrearty (73) no replacement; Yellow cards: N McGee (44), C Toye (56), M Murphy (58)


Cork: R Price; Tom Clancy (0-1), E Cadogan, S Cronin; Tomás Clancy (0-2), C O’Driscoll (0-1), S Powter (0-1); A O’Connor, I Maguire; P Kerrigan (1-2), M Collins (0-1), K O’Driscoll (0-2), M Hurley; D O’Connor (0-2), P Kelleher; Subs: A Walsh (0-1) for A O’Connor (35), P Kelly for Kelleher (41), C O’Neill (0-2f) for D O’Connor (47), B O’Driscoll for Tom Clancy (48), J O’Rourke for K O’Driscoll (62), A Cadogan for Powter (68); Yellow cards: D O’Connor (38), P Kerrigan (65)


Referee: P Neilan (Roscommon)


Attendance: 27,615