GAOTH DOBHAIR played in fits and starts and did enough to overcome MacCumhaill’s in the Donegal SFC – but they’ll meet against in the quarter-finals.
Gaoth Dobhair 1-15 MacCumhaill’s 0-13
The five-point win means the 2018 Ulster champions finish the 16-team, four-match round-robin second in the standings and their guests today came home in seventh.
Cian Mulligan scored the only goal of the game when he steered home from inside the square on 10 minutes as the ball broke loose following a duel between Kevin Cassidy and Eoin Gallen in the visitors’ goalmouth.
Oisin Gallen had given MacCumhaill’s the lead but Gaoth Dobhair spun off 1-6 on the bounce with Mulligan adding a point to his goal and Niall Friel and Eamon Collum getting their names on the scoresheet.
Neil McGee signalled to the bench to be withdrawn 18 minutes with what looked like a hamstring injury and he was replaced by Christopher McFadden, who was making a first championship appearance of 2020.
MacCumhaill’s finished the half better, with Padraig Patton, Martin O’Reilly and Jamie Keegan, who would score four points in all, scoring.
An Odhran MacNiallais free made for a 1-8 to 0-5 Gaoth Dobhair lead .at the break.
Points followed at both ends in the second half, with Naoise O Baoill and Gavin McBride on the mark for Gaoth Dobhair, whose shooting was occasionally wayward. MacCumhaill’s posted five in a row to get themselves back on track, with Oisin Gallen, Keegan and Patton all heavily involved. That made the score 1-12 to 0-11.
The final water break, though, came at a bad time and somewhat stopped the momentum MacCumhaill’s had been building. They’ll get another bite at Mervyn O’Donnell’s team in two weeks time.
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