Allianz Football League Division One: Donegal 0-19 Tyrone 0-25
THE bare essentials: Tyrone won. They gave themselves a chance to stay up but could still beat Dublin next week and go down on seven points. That scenario is closer to probable than possible.
Malachy O’Rourke’s side won with a far flatter performance than the one that earned them a point in Galway.
Perhaps you can’t blame them.The stand was closed in O’Donnell Park almost 90 minutes before throw-in. The place was full up to its 8,500 capacity. But it was hard to generate atmosphere after Donegal’s line-up was named on Friday evening.
What followed was a fairly flat affair. Tyrone weren’t great but they didn’t have to be.
The visitors took command of the game in the second quarter. They worked out Donegal’s decoy runs on kickouts and overloaded the central zone where Gavin Mulreany wanted to kick.
Tyrone created a 5v3, swept up the breaks and built the five-point interval lead that carried them to a relatively comfortable six-point victory.
Eoin McHugh bursting through to rattle the angle of crossbar and post with 15 minutes remaining was as close as Donegal got to putting the fear on them.
There were five points in it at that point. Had that gone in, they might even have snatched something.
O’Rourke got bits and pieces out of it. We learned quickly that Niall Morgan will not be collared by the latest change to the rules.
He was exceptional. He worked in as part of a rotation system, deciding when he would go.
It needs work as a team because when he did go, there was fear among the others that they’d be the man to breach it, and often that had five and six back for too long until they got it sorted.
But that’s small fry.
Aidan Clarke did a good job on Niall O’Donnell and all things considered, with a score of his own, Pete Teague didn’t come out of his battle with Michael Murphy too badly.
Mattie Donnelly’s turn of pace continues to defy medical science.
This, though, was a much flatter, pedestrian version of Tyrone than in Tuam two weeks ago.
In brass tack terms, they got one point down there and two here.
Performance wise, though, it was night and day.
You have to allow them some psychological leeway too. When they saw the Donegal team named on Friday night, it would have taken the bite out of what Tyrone would have for going to Letterkenny.
They were back to being pretty passive in possession. Mark Bradley was making runs and runs and more runs inside, but the instinct to look up and give him the ball was absent.
Peadar Mogan didn’t put Darragh Canavan on the back foot the way he has others from that number four position, but defensively the St Naul’s man – captain for the day – was pretty solid.
Canavan did burn him a couple of times but the intricacy of Tyrone’s attacking play was just a bit off. At one stage Canavan got in behind but the pass from Ciaran Daly to put him in was too long, trickling wide.
In an attacking sense, the most Tyrone really got out of it was an angry Darren McCurry.
He looked decidedly sickened at being benched for the second game in succession. When he came in, he brought a bit of dynamism and energy. He kicked a brilliant score and almost popped Daly in for goal only the Trillick man didn’t read the intention quickly enough.
Donegal got more still out of Ciaran Moore when he came on. The St Eunan’s man was excellent on his home patch, bringing a decidedly first-team pace to the home side’s attempts to recover the deficit.
All in, Jim McGuinness will feel vindicated.
He baulked at the idea that he’d send a team out to get beaten. This was, the Donegal manager said, the opportunity that a lot of those players had been stewing over and waiting on for months. Why would they not want to make the best of it?
There were things in the game that would have pleased him.
One was how they utilised Michael Murphy at full-forward, particularly for that little pop pass from the edge of the arc. They were all tuned into it, and it brought them joy.
His physical presence allowed him to dictate the terms. He’d hang in as if looking for the kick and then dart out, take the pop pass, shovel it off again to an instinctive runner.
But it was still a Donegal team that Tyrone had to be beating.
Jamie Brennan fared really well, probably the game’s most consistently lively player over 70 minutes.
They did get a worry when Michael Murphy pulled up a small bit. He was whipped straight off. It’s highly unlikely you’ll see him in Castlebar now.
Six points was about right. There was comfort in it for the Red Hands. Brilliance was going to be a big ask because deep down, they would have felt they were always going to win it.
They host Dublin in Omagh next Sunday. If they win and they go down on seven points, they’ll just have to take that.
It will take a lot more to win there but you would expect them to bring a lot more.
Donegal go to Mayo wanting to win but not particularly wanting the potential consequences of doing so.
A mad league, Ted.
MATCH STATS
Donegal: G Mulreany; M Curran 0-1, K McGettigan 0-1, P Mogan; O McFadden-Ferry, F Roarty 0–1, C McColgan 0-2 (tp); H McFadden 0-1, D MacGiolla Bhride; J Brennan 0-4, J McKelvey, O Doherty 0-2 (tp); C McGuinness, M Murphy 0-4 (0-2f), N O’Donnell
Subs: E McHugh 0-1 for McKelvey (HT), C Moore 0-2 for McColgan (48), K McGroddy for McGuinness (48), L McGlynn for O Doherty (54), J Carlin for Murphy (62)
Tyrone: N Morgan 0-5 (2tpf); A Clarke, P Teague, N Devlin; M McKernan 0-1, R Brennan, J Oguz; B Kennedy 0-1, C Kilpatrick; M Donnelly 0-3, K McGeary 0-1, C Daly 0-2; D Canavan 0-4 (0-2f), M Bradley 0-4 (0-2f), P Harte 0-1
Subs: S O’Donnell 0-1 for Oguz (48), C Quinn for McGeary (52), R Canavan for Harte (52), D McCurry 0-1 for Bradley (57), S O’Hare for McKernan (67)
Referee: P Faloon (Down)