All-Ireland Senior Football Championship quarter-final preliminary round: Donegal 0-13 Tyrone 1-18
YOU just know by Tyrone’s gait. It's the way they move, the way they hunt in packs and the energy with which they celebrated big turnovers against Donegal on Saturday night.
Tyrone are nothing without their snarl.
Are they All-Ireland contenders after a thoroughly satisfying night in Ballybofey? Without a doubt. Just like a handful of other teams competing in one of the most open Sam Maguire races in a very long time.
While there were a few pockmarks on Tyrone’s display against Donegal, it was the kind of victory that can energise a group of players, where they rediscover that indefinable element that transformed them into All-Ireland champions just two years ago.
They looked like a team that were intent on living this Championship campaign in the fullest sense after Westmeath let them off the hook a week ago.
The Red Hands have all the tools to go far again. They have a brilliant quarter-back of a goalkeeper, some of the best man-markers on the inter-county circuit and incredible game-managers in the form of Conor Meyler and Mattie Donnelly.
They have a couple of powerhouse midfielders who are unstoppable when they raise a gallop, they have Darren McCurry’s scoring efficiency up front, while the Canavans – Ruairi and Darragh – bring that wonderful unpredictability to the stage. Bench-wise, they have a few options too.
“There have been plenty of ups and down like every season but it’s just responding to it,” said defender Michael McKernan afterwards.
“Westmeath were a very good team and I don’t think people maybe gave them the credit they deserved.
“If that last free had gone over last week we wouldn’t have been here today. But we built on it, we worked harder for each other and thankfully we came out the right side.”
Given the wretched season Donegal endured, they would have bitten your arm off to have a straight shoot-out with Tyrone to reach an All-Ireland quarter-final.
- Read more: Aidan O'Rourke steps down as Donegal manager
All pre-match indicators said Aidan O’Rourke’s injury-ravaged Donegal team would come up short. And that’s exactly how it played out.
Probably too much of Donegal’s hopes were pinned on fit-again attacker Patrick McBrearty.
Ciaran Thompson helped by landing a couple of beauties and Oisin Gallen escaped the shackles of Padraig Hamspey to shoot three from play, but they needed more cutting edge from different areas of the field to really trouble their visitors, which never materialised.
“We didn’t get anything from Tyrone we didn’t expect,” said O’Rourke, who stepped down from the Donegal post over the weekend.
“We knew after the Westmeath match they were going to raise their intensity levels, but I think the game was more about what we didn’t do.
“Some old habits maybe resurfaced around decision-making and how we played the game. The lads will know that themselves – we’ve talked this stuff to death, the stuff that we eradicated during the group games and which really stood to us, we maybe fell into those old habits again.
“Tyrone brought a ferocity to their play that we probably hadn’t met in the group stages, and it took us too long to adjust to that.”
Donegal, whose high points of a turbulent year were Championship wins over Clare and Monaghan, never quite recovered from their nightmare start against Tyrone.
Ruairi Canavan almost found the net in the opening seconds but less than a minute later the Errigal Ciaran man had raised a green flag after goalkeeper Shaun Patton failed to hold onto Darren McCurry’s high flighted centre.
Patton steadied towards the end of the opening half as Donegal trailed 1-10 to 0-8 but saw red in the dying seconds after kicking out at Michael McKernan.
Mattie Donnelly’s three brilliantly executed points from play are sure to feature on Tyrone’s 2023 highlights reel and he looks like a man who’s enjoying the feeling of Championship grass under his feet.
Donnelly's last score towards the end, with the outside of his right boot, was warmly received by the travelling supporters - but the biggest cheer of the night was reserved for Darragh Canavan’s 44th minute point.
The Tyrone attacker’s wonderful low centre of gravity enabled him to evade Mark Curran’s tackle along the sideline before he sharply changed direction and thumped over with his so-called weaker left foot. It was pure class.
Donegal were still within touching distance for a good chunk of the second half and a goal would have really tested Tyrone, but they were devoid of ideas as to how to work the ball close enough to Niall Morgan’s goal.
“When we didn’t have the ball, the players worked hard to get it back,” Tyrone’s joint manager Brian Dooher noted.
“They showed that they are very good footballers, but they chased lost causes, and that’s the important thing. That always gives you a chance no matter who you’re playing.”
You just know by Tyrone's gait, as Croke Park beckons for the 2021 All-Ireland champions.
Donegal: S Patton (0-1 ’45); M Curran, B McCole, C McColgan (0-1); C Ward, EB Gallagher, S McMenamin; C McGonagle, H McFadden; D Ó Baoill, J Brennan, C Thompson (0-2); O Doherty (0-1), O Gallen (0-4, 0-1 free), P McBrearty (0-3, 0-2 free) Subs: J McGee for O Doherty (h/t), L McGlynn (0-1) for D Ó Baoill (44), R O’Donnell for H McFadden (47), B O’Donnell for C McColgan (61), G Mulreaney for M Curran (74)
Yellow cards: D Ó Baoill (43), EB Gallagher (65), J Brennan (71)
Red card: S Patton (74)
Tyrone: N Morgan; M McKernan (0-2), R McNamee, P Hampsey; C Quinn, M O’Neill, P Harte; B Kennedy (0-1), C Kilpatrick (0-1); C Meyler, K McGeary, R Canavan (1-1); D McCurry (0-5, 0-4 frees), M Donnelly (0-3), D Canavan (0-5, 0-1 free) Subs: F Burns for K McGeary (56), R Donnelly for D Canavan (61), N Devlin for R Canavan (73)
Yellow cards: C Meyler (67), M O’Neill (70)
Referee: Conor Lane (Cork)
