DONEGAL ARE AHEAD in their opening fixture of the 2019 Allianz League Division 2 campaign away to Clare at Cusack Park in Ennis.
The side managed by Declan Bonner began impressively from an offensive perspective and led by three points on three occasions. Clare, though, came back to level but scores in first half injury time from Jason McGee and Niall O’Donnell have established a two-point advantage, 0-10 to 0-8, at the break.
St Michael’s Michael Langan scored four first half frees in the bitterly cold conditions, while Ciaran Thompson was on the mark twice from play, with Eoghan Ban Gallagher marking his return to the fold with a fine score on the run.
The biggest gap between the teams was then Gallagher put Donegal 0-5 to 0-2 in front on 11 minutes.
However, Clare are certainly giving as good as they are getting. Keelan Sexton passed up on a great early goal chance on only six minutes when he drove into Shaun Patton’s side-netting in a one-on-one situation with the Donegal goalkeeper.
Gary Brennan, the skipper, scored two fine points on the run, has given the home support reason for optimism, while Bonner might be concerned a little that, after a bright start, there was certainly a sloppy element to Donegal’s play.
After Keelan Sexton missed a free to level, Jamie Brennan opened his account for the afternoon on the half-hour. David Tubridy’s second score of the first 35 minutes brought the Banner County back to within one before levelling it up at 0-8 to 0-8 with a free on 33 minutes.
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