Donegal manager Gary Duffy’s smile was as wide as the Breffni Park pitch in the wake of his side’s summary dismissal of Cavan’s minors.
By Kevin Carney at Breffni Park
To his credit, the Buncrana clubman admitted Cavan’s reduction to 14 men was pivotal though to Donegal’s second-half domination:
“We were bruised from the Tyrone defeat and then we bounced back from Armagh and then we have pushed on again tonight.
“Cavan gave us a hard game but them going down to 14 men allowed us to build up us that bit of a cushion which we used to push on and put a string of points together.
“I was delighted with the overall performance with all the fellas standing up to the mark and once Shane Monaghan goal (48) went in, I thought we were in the driving seat from there to the finish.”
The Donegal supremo was in doubt either that the hosts deserved to lose their full-back:
“It was a heavy tackle on Conor Coyle; a red card from the word go. I think the officials go it right.
“Our goal vital too, cooly taken but we saw a lot of clinical finishing and once we kept chipping away at the points in the second half, I knew we’d be okay.”
And Monaghan in the semi-final?
“Monaghan will present a different challenge to us and it won’t be easy.
“They’re the defending champions and we have to get our blueprint ready. We’ve five weeks to do that and hopefully we’ll be ready for the challenge when it comes around.”
