The late-February gael – ‘Storm Ewan’, as it has been Christened – was howling loudly around Ballybofey when Rory Gallagher reflected on a significant day for his Donegal side.
By Chris McNulty at Sean MacCumhaill Park
There might have been an element of the smash-and-grab about the way Jason McGee and Ryan McHugh bagged the late first half goals and a whisper of the fortunate about the late free from which Michael Murphy secured the 2-5 to 1-8 draw.
But there was no doubt that Donegal earned their share of things.
These sides have brewed up plenty of storms of their own of late and there were echoes about 2014 in the manner Donegal finished the first half with McGee and McHugh goaling.
“It is encouraging, you come in with so many young players it is daunting, you take Jason McGee out on Brian Fenton who has been one of the best midfielders in the last number of years, and you have Ciaran Thompson, Michael Carroll, Caolan Ward, Jamie Brennan and boys like that, who have very limited experience and we want to accrue as many wins as possible with those boys on the team,” Gallagher said as Donegal hit back from the concession of a 54th minute goal to Niall Scullt.
“The likes of Mark Anthony played three games last year, Eoghan Ban, and Ciaran Thompson played and we want those guys to start getting wins under their belt.”
Twelve of the players used by Dublin in Ballybofey today featured in the All-Ireland final replay win over Mayo on October’s first day.
It is very much a new dawn for Gallagher and Donegal, who could have won here had they been slightly more incisive in the two minutes that followed Murphy’s free.
Gallagher said: “We were hanging in there to an extent but at the same time we did not afford them any clear goal chances but there was no doubt we were on the back-foot up to then.
There was no doubt that the momentum was with them at the end and we showed great character. Dublin to an extent were hanging on then, we were running at them but we need to do that for longer periods of the game than we were.
“I thought a draw was a fair result, the game see-sawed. We would be disappointed, even though Dublin had the breeze I thought we were in a good position after we got the first score in the second half.”
His team went long spells without scoring in both halves, but a draw against a side that is on the cusp of history will do wonders for a team that is said to be in transition.
Dublin are unbeaten now in 32 League and Championship matches and they are closing in on Kerry’s record of 34.
Donegal are proud of their own record and they moved to 16 games their unbroken sequence at Sean MacCumhaill Park.
Gallagher said: “I am happy with the character shown. The most disappointing thing was the 15 minutes either side of half-time against Kerry, when I thought we did throw in the towel.
“Sometime when you have a team coming you have to go through that and see why it happened.
“Look, we showed a lot of naivety in conceding the goal today, but in terms of work-rate, commitment and effort shown it was very positive.
“We struggled to break them down. We did not score enough points to win it; I know there was a strong wind there but you would need to be kicking nine or 10 points to win.”
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