Football

Donegal beat Tyrone to take their place in the Ulster Championship final

Hugh McFadden of Donegal in action with Cathal McShane of Tyrone during the Ulster Senior Football Championship semi final match played at Breffni Park. Picture Margaret McLaughlin.
Hugh McFadden of Donegal in action with Cathal McShane of Tyrone during the Ulster Senior Football Championship semi final match played at Breffni Park. Picture Margaret McLaughlin. Hugh McFadden of Donegal in action with Cathal McShane of Tyrone during the Ulster Senior Football Championship semi final match played at Breffni Park. Picture Margaret McLaughlin.

Ulster Senior Football Championship semi-final: Donegal 1-16 Tyrone 0-15

From Andy Watters at Kingspan Breffni

DONEGAL didn’t win any medals on Saturday evening but it’ll be a massive surprise if they don’t collect them on June 23 after dismantling a disappointing Tyrone side in Cavan town.

Credit to the Red Hands, who were hampered by the loss of Peter Harte to a nonsense of a black card after 11 minutes, they fought to the finish but they were comprehensively outplayed by Declan Bonner’s side.

All-Ireland finalists last year, Tyrone finished the League and started in Ulster like they intended going a step further. Saturday was a reality check; they were second best all over the field and at times had no answer to the pace and power of Donegal’s runners.

Jamie Brennan and Eoghan Ban Gallagher set the tempo and a goal and a point in 30 seconds from Brennan forced the Red Hands onto the back foot. Once they got their noses in front, Donegal dictated the game and dominated possession.

Tyrone’s cardinal error was sitting off their opponent’s kick-outs in the first half and the Tir Chonaill men ran through them. When they did push up, goalkeeper Shaun Patton, who also saved shots from Brian Kennedy and Richie Donnelly, gave a masterclass in precision place-kicking.

“Any day you beat Tyrone in the Championship is a good day,” said Donegal manager Bonner afterwards.

“Both teams went at it, the healthiest of rivals. I thought overall that we deserved to win the match but there is no silverware handed out there today. We have 15 days to get ready for the Ulster final and that is our next task.”

Donegal were organised and focussed while Tyrone were lacklustre and without a clear gameplan and the seeds for that were sown in their dressingroom. Manager Mickey Harte dropped marauding wing-back Michael Cassidy, creative hub Niall Sludden and Connor McAliskey and his team performed like they'd been introduced to each other on the bus on the way to the game. Harte said it was a bad day at the office.

“We don’t believe we’re a bad team just because we lost a game today,” he said.

“We had a very good finish to the league and were in an All-Ireland final last year and one defeat in the Ulster championship shouldn’t really take away from all of that.

“It’s just a bad day today, we didn’t perform as well as we can and there’s obviously always two reasons for that, perhaps we didn’t play as well as we can but the opposition have a lot to do with that as well.”

The early stages had title fight intensity. The Ulster heavyweights went at it from the throw-in and Richard Donnelly’s ball to Cathal McShane and his off-load for Mattie Donnelly’s point looked like a sign of things to come.

But it was a false dawn for Tyrone and full-forward McShane cut a frustrated figure by the end of the first half as the supply dried up and his influence waned thanks to the influence of Donegal sweeper Hugh McFadden.

Tyrone led 2-1 when Gallagher went through the Tyrone defence like a hot knife through butter and passed to Brennan who picked his spot past Niall Morgan. Morgan kicked the ball out, Michael Murphy grabbed it and kicked it back to Brennan, who lost Kieran McGeary, who had just replaced Michael McKernan as his marker, and he sent Donegal three points clear with an expert finish.

Bundoran clubman Brennan had added another score when Peter Harte, who’d had a goal-bound shot blocked by Ryan McHugh, sent the Kilcar player down with a crude shove. It was a yellow card offence, but referee David Gough somehow ruled it a trip and Harte was on his way after just 11 minutes of breathless action.

McBreaty’s superb pick-up and pass sent Brennan through again and his shot walloped off the post and Tyrone broke upfield and McShane gathered the ball and bagged their fourth point. But they would add just one more (a Morgan free) in the rest of the half.

Kennedy and Mattie Donnelly did have shots at goal but Murphy (two), Michael Langan, Eoin McHugh and Brennan all landed points to stretch the Tir Chonaill men’s lead to 1-9 to 0-5 at the interval.

Donegal fans munched their sandwiches and supped their half-time tae contentedly. “We’re playing great stuff,” was the theme of chat but they expected a backlash from the Red Hands and it came.

Tyrone threw on Rory Brennan and Sludden and McShane and Kieran McGeary pulled points back as the temperature rose and referee David Gough struggled to keep the lid on as hits flew in. Tiarnan McCann, fired up, was lucky to stay on the field after grabbing at Stephen McMenamin’s gumshield and then stamping on the Donegal defender. It was a moment of madness he’ll regret and will be punished for.

But aggression was all Tyrone could come up with and Donegal were not intimidated. Ciaran Thompson, who arrived via helicopter from his brother Anthony’s wedding, could have finished the game when McBrearty’s sideline ball sent him clean through on goal.

Morgan denied him but Tyrone continued to struggle to find fluency as they chased the game. McCurry and McShane did claw back some ground with frees but Thompson, with a brilliant catch after another pin-point kick-out from Patton, McBrearty and Langan did the spadework for Ryan McHugh’s score and McBrearty added another to open a seven-point lead.

The gap was six when McFadden left it 1-15 to 0-12 with the game heading for injury-time. Six minutes were signalled and it was the queue for a desperate late rally from Tyrone.

Darren McCurry, who gave energy and focus to their attack, bagged his third point and Richie Donnelly and sub Cassidy, who should have started the game, both landed scores to reduce the deficit to three.

Patton’s restarts remained top class and Murphy’s mark relieved the siege. He set Donegal off on the attack again and McMenamin popped up near the Tyrone posts to fist over the insurance score.

McAliskey, who was rarely seen as an attacking force, did have a sniff of a goal but his shot whistled high and wide. It summed up Tyrone’s through-other day and they head for the Qualifiers well beaten and deflated.

They go back to the drawing board, Donegal go back to the Ulster final. If they play like this again they’ll retain the Anglo-Celt.

Tyrone: N Morgan (0-2, 0-1 free, 0-1 45); P Hampsey, R McNamee, M McKernan; T McCann, B McDonnell, B Kennedy; C Cavanagh, R Donnelly (0-2); M Donnelly (0-1), K McGeary (0-2), F Burns; C McShane (0-4, 0-3 frees), P Harte, L Rafferty.

Subs: R Brennan for L Rafferty, M Cassidy for F Burns, A McCrory for T McCann, D McCurry (0-3, 0-1 free) for B McDonnell, N Sludden for C Cavanagh

Black card: Harte replaced by C McAliskey (12)

Yellow cards: F Burns (47), Kennedy (72)

Donegal: S Patton; P McGrath, N McGee, S McMenamin (0-1); R McHugh (0-1), N O'Donnell, E Gallagher; H McFadden (0-1), J McGee; E McHugh (0-1), L McLoone, J Brennan (1-3); P McBrearty (0-3, 0-1 free), M Murphy (0-5, 0-3 frees), M Langan (0-1)

Subs: F McGlynn for McLoone, D O Baoill for E McHugh, C Thompson for McGee, E Doherty, P Brennan for J Brennan, O Gallen for N O'Donnell

Yellow card: O’Donnell (51)

Referee: D Gough (Meath)

Attendance: 13,579