DUBS STAND FIRM Murphy-inspired Donegal push hosts all the way in Croker
Byrne to the rescue for champions as Donegal blow their big chance
IT may be new management but this felt like the same old Dublin in the final few minutes of this game. The All-Ireland champions are refusing to give an inch to any of their rivals this spring. They are simply allergic to defeat, and in their full-back David Byrne, they may have found an unlikely scoring forward. This was the second Saturday evening in February when he popped up from the full-back line to nail the crucial score.
But Dublin’s refusal to accept defeat only tells part of the story of the night in Croke Park for this was yet another game that slipped from Donegal’s grasp. It is developing into an unwanted habit for Declan Bonner’s side. In all four matches of this League season, they have been in commanding positions but that has only translated into a solitary win, over Meath. It has left them in a precarious position in Division 1, when their play over the four matches probably deserved more.
Donegal were in front in this match right up until the 62nd minute. Yet, coming down the stretch, control was yanked from them. Colm Basquel, who impressed off the bench, had levelled the game with a fine score at that juncture.
However, Donegal could have put the game to bed only a moment earlier when Eoghan Bán Gallagher sparked one of the team’s customary fast breaks and with three Donegal forwards bearing down on Evan Comerford’s goal, a green flag looked almost certain. However, Gallagher probably had too many options and by the time he released Paddy McBrearty, sprang from the bench in the second-half, the Dublin defence had re-set.
Comerford saved bravely, with his face, from McBrearty’s shot and Dublin were able to re-assert themselves in the game. Brian Fenton had grown gradually into it and his two sublime points in a three-minute spell brought the Dubs to within a point of parity.
Brian Howard was also stamping his authority on the game and he was involved in the moment that turned the match. It was Howard who dropped a long delivery into the Donegal square in the 66th minute, a ball that is normally bread and butter for Shaun Patton.
However, the Donegal goalkeeper appeared distracted by Paul Mannion and Neil McGee grappling with each other underneath him and didn’t catch it cleanly. The ball bounced between the three players and Mannion flicked it into the net. Dublin were in front for the first time and they wouldn’t lose the lead.
Dublin used their experience as the game edged into additional time. After McBrearty and Hugh McFadden had brought the Ulster side to within a point of parity, the game was stopped for a scuffle in the middle of the field. The stoppage lasted all of three minutes and by the end, Maurice Deegan had dismissed both Michael Murphy and John Small for a second booking.
Ironically, Murphy’s dismissal coincided with the Donegal captain being announced as the man of the match. And without his leadership in the final few seconds, Donegal’s cause looked increasingly lost. His first booking came in the third minute for a late, high challenge on Byrne but for most of the match, he was the game’s defining presence.
Murphy had his fingerprints over almost everything Donegal did, especially in the first-half. He had an involvement in his team’s first five scores, kicking two of them himself including a huge free in the 15th minute. As his influence faded towards half-time, so too did his team fade from the match.
He created Donegal’s goal, too, taking two Dublin defenders out of the game with his lay-off to Hugh McFadden, allowing the Killybegs to run into wide open space and finish brilliantly past Comerford,
showing great composure to bury the ball into the far corner of the net.
Donegal owned the ball for long periods of the first half with Patton’s kick-outs doing damage, and almost creating a re-enactment of the famous All-Ireland semi-final ambush of 2014 at one point when Murphy rose to flick on a monstrous Patton delivery. Ryan McHugh was waiting for the flick and tore at the Dublin defence, played a neat onetwo with Jamie Brennan but his shot was stopped by Comerford. Brennan was on hand to fist the rebound over the bar.
Brennan was lively in the firsthalf, and scored a brace of points. But he was too often given the thankless role of ploughing a lone furrow as Murphy came out the field to join the play. Brennan’s second point, in the 21st minute, would be Donegal’s last for 10 minutes as Dublin gradually built their way into the game.
Alan Brogan has talked Sean Bugler up during the week as possibly Dublin’s break-out star of this League campaign and the Oliver Plunkett’s man was the sharpest of their forwards in the first-half, as he was when coming off the bench against Monaghan a fortnight ago.
Bugler nailed two points in the first-half, and was a constant outlet as Brian Fenton and Brian Howard established more of a foot-hold around the middle of the field. Dean Rock’s late free meant Dublin only trailed by two at the break, a lead they were well able to eat into as the second-half progressed. dublin: E Comerford; D Byrne, J Small, M Fitzsimons; E Murchan, B Howard, C O’Shea; B Fenton, C Dias (C Costello h-t); N Scully, C Kilkenny, S Bugler (A Byrne 68); P Mannion, K McManamon (C Basquel 53), D Rock (P Small 70+2)
SCORERS: D Rock 0-4, (3f), P Mannion 1-0. B Fenton, B Howard, C Kilkenny, S Bugler 0-2 each, C Costello, C Basquel, D Byrne 0-1 each.
YELLOW CARDS: B Fenton (15), J Small (42+ 70+5). red card: J Small (70+5).
WIDES: (6) 10. DONEGAL: S Patton; C Ward( B McCole 55), N McGee, E Bán Gallagher; P Brennan (N O’Donnell 46), R McHugh, O McFadden-Ferry; H McFadden, M Langan; C Thompson, D O Baoill, C McGonigle (P McBrearty 52); P Mogan, M Murphy, J Brennan (E McHugh 62).
SCORERS: M Murphy 0-5 (2f), H McFadden 1-1, J Brennan, C Thompson (1f), P Mogan 0-2 each, P McBrearty, M Langan 0-1 each.
YELLOW CARDS: M Murphy (3+70+5), H McFadden (44). red card: M Murphy (70+5).
WIDES: (4) 8. attendance: 26, 513. referee: Maurice Deegan (Laois).