Michael Murphy Sports & Leisure Donegal SFC final replay: Gaoth Dobhair 0-14 Naomh Conaill 1-11THESE truly are the inseparables. Gaoth Dobhair had it, Naomh Conaill had it, and in the end nobody had it.They will have just over 72 hours to piece themselves back together and go at it for a third time in 10 days. This time, it’ll be played to the death.Donegal county board said it had asked the clubs via email on Thursday night if they were happy to finish this on the day. Neither club replied, although Gaoth Dobhair boss Mervyn O’Donnell said they were content, but his counterpart Martin Regan denied they had been asked.The hearts might not have taken it. It wasn’t always a brilliant spectacle, but don’t mistake that for a lack of quality, and certainly not for a lack of drama.The Glenties are the dog that won’t die. They trailed for most of the second half of normal time but found a way to squeeze another 20 minutes out of it.Within five minutes in extra-time, they found themselves three down again, but clawed it back and were the side that led heading into stoppage time, only for Seaghan Ferry to repeat his Ulster final heroics from last year by landing a dramatic late leveller.With five starters over 30, logic would suggests the three-day turnaround to a third big game would be sorer on Naomh Conaill, but they don’t conform to logic.“Those boys don’t go away. They keep coming back and coming back. That’s not just these two games, that’s this last three years,” said Regan.“We were beat by Kilcar two years ago and people said that team was finished, we were beat last year and people said that team was finished, Gaoth Dobhair were hot favourites today.“They’ll be favourites again on Wednesday night, they’re still Ulster champions and they haven’t been beaten in the championship yet this year, so we still have a massive task ahead of us.”Naomh Conaill played without a designated sweeper as such, while Seaghan Ferry operated as Gaoth Dobhair’s, but it was largely an exceptionally fluid game in which both teams defended and attacked in massive numbers.The quality of the defending was often an outstanding feature, with both teams swallowing up anyone that stepped into the area down the middle of their goal.Naturally, scores were hard come by then. It took almost 10 minutes for the first to arrive and when it did, it was a Glenties goal through a Charles Gallagher penalty.It came off a high ball that was a repeated tactic for Naomh Conaill but one that didn’t really have the desired effect. Neil McGee and Dan McBride were fit for it in the air.Gaoth Dobhair were also better in the skies around midfield in the first half, allowing them to dominate possession. They scored 0-6 to Naomh Conaill’s 1-2 in that period, but Mervyn O’Donnell’s side kicked seven wides and should have been further ahead.In Daire Ó Baoill they had the game’s outstanding player, a constant torment down the left wing, although Ethan O’Donnell wasn’t far behind him in the same guise for Naomh Conaill.The Ulster champions had trailed until the final minute of stoppage time before quick scores from Eamon McGee and Cian Mulligan slipped them in front.The second period of normal time was much more even. Gaoth Dobhair held their lead most of the way but it was never more than two points.The introduction of Dermot ‘Brick’ Molloy at full-forward gave Naomh Conaill the pivot they needed in the final 15 minutes, with his 40-yard effort that made it 0-9 to 1-5 a critical score.Odhran MacNiallais had just pushed Gaoth Dobhair two ahead with six to play, and spaces just were starting to appear in areas that had otherwise been in lockdown.Molloy and Ciaran Thompson kicked the scores that sent it to extra-time, but despite Gaoth Dobhair waiting out in the Baltic air and Glenties heading in to stick themselves to a radiator for 10 minutes, it was the green jerseys that started sharper again.A penalty awarded after Marty Boyle made a brilliant block from Kevin Cassidy, only to then touch the ball on the ground, was fired just over the bar by MacNiallais.He and James Ó Baoill pushed the gap to three by the 65th minute but they were kept alive by a great score from Molloy and a late free by Eoghan McGettigan, as they trailed by two at the turnaround.
Gaoth Dobhair didn’t score again until the 72nd minute, with Ciaran Thompson, Eunan Doherty and Ethan O’Donnell turning the game on its head.But when everyone in MacCumhaill Park was ready to spontaneously combust, Gavin McBride kept his head and caught everyone out with a brave and precise pass from a free that set Ferry up to kick the last equaliser.Wednesday night will separate them one way or the other.MATCH STATS
Gaoth Dobhair: C Sweeney; D McBride, N McGee; S Ferry (0-1); N Friel, G McFadden, D Ó Baoill (0-1); M Carroll (0-1), E McGee (0-1); J Ó Baoill (0-1), O MacNiallais (0-6, 0-2 frees, 0-1 pen), N Ó Baoill; C Mulligan (0-2), K Cassidy, G McBride
Subs: E Collum (0-1 free) for G McBride (21), P McGee for D McBride (45), E Harkin for Collum (59), G McBride for Harkin (start of ET), D McBride for P McGee (start of ET)
Yellow cards: G McBride (19), K Cassidy (24), E McGee (27), D McBride (35)Naomh Conaill: S McGrath; U Doherty, AJ Gallagher, K McGettigan; E O’Donnell (0-1), A Thompson, E Wade; C Thompson (0-3, 0-1 free), L McLoone; B McDyer, E McGettigan (0-2 frees), E Doherty (0-2); J McKelvey (0-1), C McGuinness (1-0 pen), K Gallagher
Subs: M Boyle for AJ Gallagher (39), D Molloy (0-2) for Wade (45), D Gallagher for McGuinness (53), AJ Gallagher for McDyer (start of ET), B McDyer for McKelvey (70), J O’Malley for D Gallagher (79), A Thompson for U Doherty (80)
Black card: K Gallagher (46), replaced by N Byrne
Yellow cards: C Thompson (16), AJ Gallagher (19), L McLoone (26), N Byrne (59)Referee: J White (Killybegs)Attendance: 3,500