The Donegal Minor footballers who had led by 0-05 to 0-02 at halftime against Cavan found themselves six points behind as the home side came to life at the start of the second-half with four points in a row.
Donegal responded with points from Luke Clerkin and Lorcan McGee to lead again at 0-07 to 0-06 in this topsy turvy encounter at Breffni Park.
But goals from Dylan Edwards and an incredible long range effort from Ben Tully plus a Jamie Clarke point had Cavan ahead 2-07 to 0-07 and seemingly in charge.
However, Luke Barrett’s were not ready to take the championship exit door just yet and produced a super last ten minutes to snatch victory and a semifinal meeting with Derry.
Danny Brown pointed , Oisin Scanlon followed up and drilled the ball to the net after Conor McCahill’s shot had been blocked and a second Danny Brown point left just one between them.
Donegal now had the momentum and Darragh Hennigan’s point leveled it with a minute left.
Shane Callaghan, who surprisingly hadn’t scored up to that, did when it mattered most, cooly slotting over the winning score to give Donegal a 1-11 to 2-07 victory.
The win sets up another meeting with Derry who they beat in the Jim McGuigan Cup Final but lost heavily to in the Group stage of this championship.
