A JIMPRESSIVE START GOES ON FOR DONEGAL
1-10 0-15
BY KEVIN KELLY DONEGAL held off a second-half fightback from Tyrone in Omagh yesterday to make it two wins from two in the Mckenna Cup.
The clash at Healy Park swung one way then the other but both management teams were happy enough with what they saw.
The visitors fielded a more seasoned side with as many as 11 regulars starting and another two coming off the bench.
Tyrone handed debuts to four players from the start with another five introduced from the bench – including Ciaran Daly (inset) who got the only goal of the game.
The visitors’ experience showed in the opening period as Donegal established a 0-9 to 0-4 advantage by the break.
Tyrone hit back in the second half and Daly’s 59th minute goal edged them in front.
It also proved to be their last score of the game however as Donegal landed three unanswered points.
“It was a good run out for us against good opposition and it got vital minutes into the legs,” said Donegal manager Jim Mcguinness.
“That was the main thing that we were looking to achieve so that run out was very good from our point of view.
“I thought we played well in the first half although we left a lot of scores behind us during that time as well.
“Our press in the first half worked well against them but then Niall Morgan was able to find some solutions to that and that enabled them to come back into the game.
“Tyrone hit the first four points of the second half and that was disappointing from our point of view as we had spoke about that at half-time so we will definitely have to go back and have a look at that and see how we can improve that moving forward.”
Tyrone joint manager Brian Dooher admitted his side were overrun in the first half but was pleased with the character demonstrated after the break.
“We weren’t at the races in the first half,” said Dooher.
“Donegal just overpowered us with runners everywhere breaking lines and breaking tackles at will and putting us under immense pressure.
“In the second half the big difference was that we got pressure on them further out the field and that gave our defence a chance.”
TEAMS & SCORERS
TYRONE: N Morgan, C Devlin, N Mccarron, A Clarke, Tarlach Quinn, M Mckernan (0-1), N Devlin (0-1) B Kennedy (0-1), A Donaghy, D Jones, P Harte (0-2 2F) J Donaghy, C Cush, D Canavan (0-4, 3F), S O’donnell. SUBS: C Kilpatrick for Jones, C Quinn for Mccarron, C Daly (1-0) for A Donaghy, B Cullen for J Donaghy, L Mcgarrity (0-1, M) for Cush, S Donaghy for Tarlach Quinn, J Garrity for Harte, Tiarnan Quinn for
Canavan.
DONEGAL: S Patton, M Curran, B Mccole, K Mcgettigan, R Mchugh, C Mcgonagle, P Mogan (0-1), J Mcgee (0-1), M Langan, S O’; Donnell (0-2, 1 M), O Doherty (0-1) C Moore, P Mcbrearty (0-3, 3F) O Gallen (0-4, 2F), J Brennan (0-2). SUBS: C Thompson for Mcgee, O Caulfield
(0-1) for Doherty, J Molloy for Brennan, D O’ Baoill for O’donnell, J Mac Ceallabhui for Mchugh, S Mcmenamin for Mccole, A Doherty for Mcbrearty.
N Cullen, Fermanagh.