EARLY GOALS by Odhrán MacNiallais and Cian Mulligan settled any nerves Gaoth Dobhair might’ve possessed as they came through with ease against Killybegs in the Donegal SFC.
Gaoth Dobhair 3-13 Killybegs 0-6
Daire Ó Baoill rammed home a third goal in the second half, as Killybegs went from the 26th minute of the first half to the 24th of the second.
Mac Niallais shot straight down the middle to beat Michael Mullen from the spot after Kevin Cassidy had gone down moments beforehand having run into the Killybegs goalkeeper following a raking ball into the square by Ethan Harkin.
Mullen was the Fishermens’ third netminder in only their second outing in the SFC, with Antoine O’Hara and Kevin Martin playing a half each last Saturday in the 1-12 to 1-6 loss to Glenfin.
Minus the hamstrung Hugh McFadden, also withdrawn in Fintra, Killybegs went long when they could but invariably were thwarted by Neil McGee on the edge of the Gaoth Dobhair square. Christopher Murrin opened the visitors’ account only for Gaoth Dobhair move only to be denied by Mullen.
Mulligan slotted home Gaoth Dobhair’s second goal on 14 minutes to make it 2-3 to 0-1, from a rebound after Niall Friel got on the end of a flowing move that Mullen did well to get behind initially.
The 2018 Ulster champions opened with a 2-17 to 0-7 win at Four Masters six days beforehand.
Shaun Gorrell and Jack McSharry pulled two back for Killybegs, but Gaoth Dobhair, who missed half a dozen scoreable chances in the half, were 2-5 to 0-3 up at half-time with Michael Carroll and Mulligan scoring.
Domhnall Mac Giolla Bhride fisted the first point of the second half and when Kevin Cassidy popped over it was 2-7 to 0-3. It could’ve been worse for Killybegs when Ethan Harkin rattled the crossbar on 37 minutes.
Daire Ó Baoill rattled home the third Gaoth Dobhair on 42, well deserving after a fantastic couple of outings, when he took on a pass from Friel to shoot low past Mullen to make it 3-9 to 0-3 at the water break.
Paul Cunningham thought he’d added to his goal against Glenfin when he punched past Christopher Sweeney eight minutes from time, only for Mark Dorrian. Murrin and Gorrell did add to their first half scores late on. Niall Friel became Gaoth Dobhair’s 11th different scorer as Eamon Collum rounded off the scoring.
Gaoth Dobhair: Christopher Sweeney; Gary McFadden, Neil McGee (0-1), Eamon McGee; Niall Friel (0-1), Domhnall Mac Giolla Bhride (0-1), Daire Ó Baoill (1-1); Michael Carroll (0-1), Odhrán Mac Niallais (1-1, 1-0 pen, 0-1f); Cian Mulligan (1-1), Ethan Harkin (0-2), Naoise Ó Baoill (0-1); Odhrán McFadden-Ferry, Kevin Cassidy (0-1), Eamon Collum (0-2, 1m). Subs: James Ó Baoill, Gavin McBride and Neasan Mac Giolla Bhride, Mulligan and Harkin (49).
Killybegs: Michael Mullin; Cillian Gildea, Ciaran Conaghan, Michael Callaghan; Michael Statham, Jon ‘Ban’ Gallagher, Ryan Carr; Evan Broderick, Eoghan ‘Ban’ Gallagher; Shaun Gorrell (0-1), Jack McSharry (0-3, 1f), Christopher Murrin (0-2); Donal McGuire, Paul Cunningham, Dan Breslin. Subs: Brendan McGuire for Breslin (42), Niall Campbell for McGuire (59).
Referee: Mark Dorrian (Gaeil Fhánada)
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