DERRY UNDONE
Mcguinness wins the battle of the heavyweight bosses after his side smash Harte’s men with goal blitz
DERRY’S reign as Ulster champions was ended in spectacular fashion as they were ambushed in their own backyard by a goal-hungry Donegal side.
Odhran Lynch was beaten four times, once from an Oisin Gallen penalty and three times when caught out the pitch with Daire O Baoill lobbing him twice.
The result means that Jim Mcguinness now boasts a 4-0 record against Mickey Harte in Championship football but the Donegal boss was keen to keep the victory in perspective.
“We are delighted, we are delighted to get through,” said Mcguinness.
“It is a big step for us but we also know – I personally feel that Derry, Dublin and Kerry are the top three teams in the country.
“For us this puts us in the semi-final and that was the only thing that was ever important to us to try and get to the next round of the Championship. Now we have got to go again in eight days’ time.”
Derry hit 16 goals en route to winning the Division One title but they couldn’t engineer one genuine goalscoring opportunity, while Brendan Mccole shadowed Shane Mcguigan superbly well.
Paddy Mcbrearty lost his race to recover from a calf injury picked up in their round seven win over Meath last month.
Derry made the better start and were 0-3 to 0-1 ahead with points from Ethan Doherty, Paul Cassidy (mark) and Conor Doherty.
Lynch was called into action early on to make a smart save to deny the raiding Caolan Mcgonagle at the expense of a 45, which Gallen converted. That spurred Donegal into life and they took the lead for the first time when the impressive Ryan Mchugh fired over his second point.
Mcguinness’ side gained the upper hand when Lynch was caught out field when Mchugh won a break at midfield and O Baoill had the perfect weight on his shot to lob the Derry goalkeeper.
Doherty replied with another fine score for Derry and Donegal missed a few chances to add to their tally but the Oak Leaf rallied late in the half.
Mcguigan struggled to get away from the attentions of Mccole and he converted a late free with Brendan Rogers also on target in stoppage time as Harte’s men reduced the deficit to a single point at half-time.
Donegal’s challenge gained momentum with O Baoill’s second goal.
Niall O’donnell got a deft flick to a booming Patton kickout and the Gweedore ace fired past Lynch with the retreating Derry keeper unable to keep the ball out of the net.
When Shane O’donnell cut in behind Chrissy Mckaigue, the former Derry skipper had little choice but to commit a foul and conceded the penalty which Gallen dispatched.
Despite losing Niall O’donnell to a black card, Donegal continued to run at Derry from all angles with Mchugh and O Baoill pulling the strings.
Not even an injury to Patton could halt their charge and Jamie Brennan caught out Lynch once again to put the icing on the cake for Donegal.
Mcguigan’s only two points from play came in the dying minutes.
But by then the game had long slipped from Derry’s grasp – along with their
Leinster SHC round 1 Kilkenny v Antrim, UPMC Nowlan Park, 2.30pm; Wexford v Dublin, Chadwicks Wexford Park, 2pm; Galway v Carlow, Pearse Stadium, 2pm