DONEGAL’S DREAMS OF a place in the last ever final of the All-Ireland Under-21 championship were shattered by Dublin at Kingspan Breffni Park this afternoon.
Donegal 0-9 Dublin 1-13
The side managed by Declan Bonner were impressive winners in the provincial championship with mirroring 3-17 to 0-13 wins over both Cavan in the semi-final and then Armagh in Monday’s final.
However, this afternoon they were in truth never at the races, apart from a spell at the start of the second half when they reduced their arrears to a single point.
Dublin, through, were complete value for their win and grasped total control back from Donegal from there on in. Donegal looked tired and lacked intensity throughout. In the end it was drawn out like a slow-moving procession.
A goal in the last 10 minutes when Sean McMahon hammered past Danny Rodgers was the final nail in the coffin to establish a 1-10 to 0-5 cushion for Dublin and then Chris Sallier added a nonchalant score to confirm the passage to the decider in this, the last year of the competition before it goes to Under-20 in 2018.
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Dnegalwere slow starters in Cavan, with Dublin posting the first four points on the afternoon with Con O’Callaghan, Tom Fox, Glenn O’Reilly and Aaron Byrne on the mark.
Dublin’s star attraction O’Callaghan was black-carded after only three minutes, but Donegal never took advantage.
Bonner, the Donegal manager, made two early changes as his side struggled to create any fluency in the forward line with Conor Doherty replacing Mark Coyle and then Niall O’Donnell coming in for Stephen McBrearty.
It took Donegal until the 24th minute to get on the scoreboard, with Michael Langan eventually splitting the posts from a free. Beforehand there had been fires wides and a ball dropping short into the hands of Evan Comerford.
Dublin, though, would kick the next score, with O’Reilly popping over his second of the day. But their accuracy in front of the posts wasn’t as it should be either though. At the break, with Dublin leading 0-5 to 0-2 Donegal had kicked seven wides to the Leinster champions’ four.
With their ears warming from their manager no doubt, Donegal opened the scoring in the second half through Langan and when O’Donnell scored under pressure there was a reason for the sizable Donegal support to raise their voices, 0-5 to 0-4 down.
However, Dublin fired over two quickfire points from Byrne and wing-back Cian Murphy, with the latter unlucky not to have a goal only for Donegal goalkeeper Danny Rodgers to have tipped over on 37 minutes.
A 45 from Byrne meant Dublin were 0-8 to 0-4 in front by the 40th minute and Byrne added a free soon afterwards to move the lead out to five.
Donegal huffed and puffed but never looked like making any inroads. Dublin can look forward to a meeting with Galway or Kerry in two weeks’ time.
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Donegal: Danny Rodgers; Conor Morrison, Stephen McMenamin, Brendan McCole; Daire O Baoill, Eoghan Ban Gallagher, Cian Mulligan; Tony McClenaghan, Jason McGee; Michael Carroll (0-1), Stephen McBrearty (0-1), Michael Langan (0-4, 2f); Jamie Brennan, Lorcan Connor, Mark Coyle. Subs: Conor Doherty for Coyle (15), Niall O’Donnell (0-2) for McBrearty (24), Ethan O’Donnell (0-1) for Connor (37), Rory Carr for Mulligan (42), Caolan McGonagle for McClenaghan (49). McBrearty for O Baoill (55),
Dublin: Evan Comerford; Darren Byrne (0-1), Cillian O’Shea, Eoin Murchan; Darren Gavin, Sean McMahon (1-0), Cian Murphy (0-2); Andrew Foley, Tom Fox (0-1); Glenn O’Reilly (0-2), Aaron Byrne (0-4, 1f, 45), Brian Howard; Colm Basquel, Con O’Callaghan (0-1, 1f), Dan O’Brien. Subs: Chris Sallier (0-1) for O’Callaghan (6, black card), Aaron Elliott for Foley (21), Darragh Spillane for Fox (37), Andrew McGowan (0-1) for O’Reilly (47), Stephen Smith for Sallier (57), Shane Clayton for Basquel (60), Stephen Smith (black card 60+4),
Referee: James Bermingham (Cork).
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