All-Ireland SFC Group Four: Clare 0-9 Donegal 0-14
A strong second half from Aidan O’Rourke’s charges where they outscored the hosts 0-7 to 0-3 proved decisive as Donegal brought their Championship bid back to life.
In the process, it piles significant pressure on Clare who will need to get a result in Clones against Monaghan in two weeks' time or in the final round against Derry to have any hope of reaching back-to-back All-Ireland quarter-finals.
Predicting a Donegal win was not on the cards during the opening half when Clare dominated.
They didn’t make their authority count, however, and only led 0-6 to 0-3 at the interval while their last four shots of the half all went to the wrong side of the posts.
This view was echoed by Clare boss, Colm Collins: “This was very disappointing. I thought in the first half we should have been out of sight and we went in at half-time just three points up. The second half was a very disappointing display. We were second best through that half”.
Hitting only two points from play in the entire second half reflected where it went wrong for the Munster finalists, Collins maintained: “Unfortunately, we needed a really big second half and we didn’t get it. The return in the second half says it all”.
Donegal coach Paddy Bradley noted that the win can help to turn their season around.
“We’re just delighted to get the result because we’ve obviously been on a bad run the last while”.
Their leadership came to the fore in the final quarter, he felt: “It’s funny because it seemed like we had been in that position loads of times this season but we haven’t. But the confidence shown in training has been excellent.
"That’s the one thing I’ll say about these boys. They are a very resilient bunch and while they were very, very disappointed about the National League and the Down game, it didn’t deter them from coming to training every night and just giving their best.
"There’s serious belief in what they’re about and there is serious hunger and desire to do well for Donegal so I’m just delighted that all the hard work paid off today. But look, it’s only game one and this group is going to be tight."
Having built up a three-point advantage inside the first nine minutes, Clare started well. They had kept Donegal to a single point for the opening 28 minutes but danger man Keelan Sexton was denied a green flag by Shaun Patton with a fantastic save on 19 minutes in what was a defining exchange in the contest.
Aided by kicking two of the last scores of the half coupled with Clare’s sloppy shooting, Donegal managed to trail by three points at the break, a position they were more than content to be in.
From the get-go on the restart, Donegal marched into the driving seat and had points from sharpshooters Oisin Gallen and Ciaran Thompson in the opening three minutes.
Spectators in the crowd of 2,296 would have quickly formed the opinion that once the two-time All-Ireland champions stuck their noses in front, the game was theirs to lose.
That was exactly the way it transpired with Hugh McFadden nudging them clear on 24 minutes and although his effort was quickly cancelled out by Darragh Bohannon, Donegal responded via Gallen and then kicked three points in-a-row to set themselves on the way to victory.
Donegal: S Patton; M Curran, B McCole, JR Molloy; O Doherty, EB Gallagher (0-1), C Ward; C McGonagle (0-2), R O’Donnell (0-1); C O’Donnell, H McFadden (0-1), C Thompson (0-4); J Brennan, O Gallen (0-4), D Ó Baoill.
Subs: J McGee for Molloy (H-T), C McColgan for Ward (44), L McGlynn (0-01) for C O’Donnell (49), M O’Reilly for Doherty (72).
Clare: S Ryan; R Lanigan, C Brennan, C Rouine; C Russell, J Malone, C O’Dea; C O’Connor, D O’Neill; D Walsh, E McMahon (0-2, 0-1 free), P Lillis (0-02); E Cleary (0-2 frees), K Sexton (0-1), P Collins.
Subs: D Bohannon (0-1) for Collins (21), A Griffin (0-1) for O’Connor (42), B McNamara for O’Neill (47), I Ugwueru for Walsh (67), M McInerney for O’Dea (68)
Referee: J Molloy (Galway)
