He mightn’t necessarily have imagined it to have been quite as easy, but Rory Gallagher, the Donegal manager, fully expected a stress free afternoon for his men.
One of the top sides in Division 1, Donegal made light work of an Antrim side that will operate from Division 4 next year, as goals by Jamie Brennan, Paddy McGrath and Patrick McBrearty eased them to a 3-19 to 1-9 win in Ballybofey.
“We’d like to think that we’re one of the top teams in the province and one of the top teams in the country,” Gallagher said.
“It is nice to win. The reality is that we fully expected to win; we are operating out of division one, Antrim were relegated to division four and had a difficult 10 days. We didn’t play as well as we would have liked but in the second half we showed some moments.
“We expected to win, we have very talented footballers and that is why we operate in that division.
“We prepare very well that is why we have been so successful in the first round over the last number of years.”
The game was tight until Brennan bagged the opening goal in the 31st minute and, with the aid of a big Ballybofey breeze, Donegal scored 2-11 in the second half.
Gallagher said: “We would have felt going out there that it was a five six-point breeze. We played here often enough and while it was not gale-force, we know it was worth four or five points.”
It had a pedestrian feel to it after Brennan’s goal and a monster point by Michael Murphy raised the only big cheer of the afternoon.
Although Monaghan won 1-20 to 1-11 last night against Fermanagh, Gallagher dismissed the suggestion that Ulster could be going soft.
He said: “Donegal won’t be soft!
“When you have divisional differences you don’t expect it to be too-ing and fro-ing. I remember going to watch Fermanagh on a lot of dark days and there was no yellow cards and they were sent home well beaten.
“At the end of the day, Antrim, an no disrespect to them, will be operating in Division 4 next year. They’ve had a tough week. If those games aren’t tight then they can be relatively easy for the referees so the referees will be happy.”
