Allianz Football League Division Two: Donegal 1-13 Meath 0-14
THIS was a night when as long as Donegal won, nothing else they did mattered. The football, as is often the way, took on the unspoken duty of lifting a little bit of the weight off the grieving shoulders of an entire county.
Mícheál Roarty and John Harley were 24 years of age. Daniel Scott was 23, Shaun Harkin just 22. The tragic news of their collective loss last Sunday night brought an unimaginable pain to their families and the community around them.
It had been a tough week, especially for Jason McGee. He was a Cloughaneely clubmate to three of them, and a friend and neighbour to Gaoth Dobhair native Míchéal Roarty. His loss was deeply personal, yet he had the strength of character to come on and play a big role in the final 25 minutes on Saturday evening.
The deaths have hit the whole of Donegal hard.
There wasn’t a single sound anywhere in MacCumhaill Park during a sombre moment’s silence before the game. For the first hour that followed, the soft mood lingered.
Meath were, at times, a mixture of brilliant throwback and modern competitor. They were undoubtedly aided by the fact that Donegal were not themselves in any shape or fashion.
The visitors were by far the better side and Donegal couldn’t get any closer than four points down for a long time in the second half.
And then out of nowhere, a skitter of a goal that turned it. Eoghan Bán Gallagher’s long delivery seemed aimless but it cleared the heads of the Meath full-back line. Andrew Colgan was too slow to see it and get off his line, and Caolan McGonigle managed to get enough on the ball to squeeze it home.
It cut the gap to one with just over ten minutes to play, and it never felt from there like Declan Bonner’s side would head away without some sort of positive result.
Ciaran Thompson landed the leveller before Eoin McHugh marked his return to inter-county football by landing his side in front for the first time since they’d kicked the game’s opening two scores.
Jamie Brennan kicked the final point, his second of the night, yet perhaps his own performance sums the night up better than any. He landed the opener, looked bright. And then he got completely shut out of it by a superb display from Seamus Lavin, who won everything. But when it was most needed, Brennan found a way.
Thompson did the same, though in an attacking sense it was Niall O’Donnell and goalscorer McGonigle that led the way in the second half, trying all night to bring their game to a different level.
The longer the icy night sky turned the MacCumhaill Park surface from grass to something resembling concrete, the more Donegal’s handpassing game failed. They spilled more ball in one game than they will for the rest of 2019.
Meath’s display couldn’t have contrasted more greatly. There wasn’t a breath of wind and, for the first 35 minutes especially, their counter-attacking game was savage.
Their seventh point of the night was just sublime. A turnover in their own 21’ and despite only having two men ahead of the ball, they’d no fear of it. A long, raking, 60 yard kick over the first line of Donegal defence. Another one into the inside forward line for Thomas O’Reilly, who’d wriggled into a half-yard. He has Niall Kane tearing off him to kick the score. It’s everything you could want to see.
And they did it repeatedly. Darragh Campion was a livewire, O’Reilly won his share and their midfield pairing of Brian Menton and Shane McEntee were superb. But really the whole thing came from a superb half-back division, with Donal Keogan holding the middle and going when it suited. On the wings, Kane was brilliant and James McEntee was the best player on the pitch.
But for all the finesse, they couldn’t shake Donegal, even when they weren’t at themselves. Ciaran Thompson kicked four points in the first half and that was a huge contribution in terms of the home side only being 0-8 to 0-7 behind at the interval.
You expected them to kick into gear after the break and then remembered you’d no right to really. And so the game continued largely as it had been, except Meath began to stretch clear. They hit five of the next six after Niall O’Donnell levelled on the restart, but ultimately their downfall was as simple as Mickey Newman’s inaccuracy from frees.
He missed four, as well as two efforts from play, and that was simply too many against a good side, even on a bad night.
Goalscorer McGonigle had a big impact all evening, not least with a superb full-length block to prevent a certain score not only after his green flag, when the sides were level at 1-11 to 0-14.
The edginess really crept in as Ryan McHugh missed a sitter at one end and Thomas O’Reilly missed an even easier one at the other. But when the momentum swung, Donegal had enough about them to grab it and hold on.
“It’s been a very difficult week, to be honest, for the whole group,” said Tír Chonaill manager Declan Bonner.
“I thought they showed great character. I was delighted for Jason [McGee], he’s had a very, very tough week. He didn’t feel up to starting but he came off the bench and did well in those last 20 minutes.
“He’s a young lad, and it’s a big, big blow for that whole area, and for a lot of these people that would have known the lads very well.”
Football has been a distant second in Donegal for the past eight days, but it was such a part of the lives of those four young men, and the communities they came from.
This was perhaps a small respite for families grieving. For a county mourning.
This was for Míchéal. For Shaun. For Daniel. For John.
MATCH STATS
Donegal: MA McGinley; C Morrison, B McCole; C Ward, E Bán Gallagher, R McHugh, E Doherty; H McFadden, C McGonigle (1-0); N O’Donnell (0-3, 0-2f), M McElhinney, C Thompson (0-5, 0-2f), M Langan (0-1); M O’Reilly (0-1m), J Brennan (0-2)
Subs: L McLoone for Langan (HT), J McGee for McElhinney (45), S McMenamin for O’Reilly (45), E McHugh (0-1) for Doherty (66), P Brennan for O’Donnell (75)
Cards: None
Meath: A Colgan; S Lavin, C McGill; J McEntee (0-2), R Ryan, D Keogan, N Kane (0-2); B Menton (0-1), S McEntee (0-2); B McMahon, E Devine (0-1), B Brennan; D Campion (0-3), M Newman (0-3, 0-2f), T O’Reilly
Subs: C O’Sullivan for Brennan (HT), G Reilly for Devine (47), J Conlon for McMahon (55), J Scully for Campion (66), M Burke for Newman (70)
Cards: None
Referee: J Henry (Mayo)
