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Donegal
continue winning ways - 27/07/03 2003
All-Ireland Qualifer
Down
2-10 v Donegal 3-15 
@ 4.15 p.m. Clones, Sat 26th July 2003 Donegal's
blossoming romance with the Bank of Ireland All-Ireland SFC Qualifiers continues.
For the second successive season, they have charmed their way down the highways,
byways and back doors of Ireland, and once again find themselves back in the All-Ireland
quarter-finals. Brian McEniff, an All-Ireland winning manager in 1992, certainly
has worked wonders with a squad that was in disarray when he reluctantly took
over at the start of the year. In Saturday night it was all smiles, despite a
recurrence of a knee injury which could keep attacker Brendan Devenney out of
next weekend's quarter-final tie. Down made a promising
start, but in the sixth minute Donegal crafted a memorable goal. Started deep
in defence by Mark Crossan, the move gathered pace once it reached John Gildea,
with Devenney and Adrian Sweeney combining with precision to send the inrushing
Michael Hegarty in to fire a low shot past Michael McVeigh at the far post. Devenney
was on fire in those opening stages, hitting two fine points from play, and despite
the fine efforts of Liam Doyle, Donegal controlled the central sector through
Gildea, Stephen McDermott and Jimmy McGuinness. With Aidan O'Prey playing as an
emergency full forward in the absence of the suspended Dan Gordon, the Down attack
lacked cohesion, and on the one occasion that they did threaten Tony Blake's goal,
Niall McCready intercepted superbly when Ronan Murtagh's cross from the right
looked tailor-made for the lurking Shane Ward. Brian McEniff's
men appeared to be coasting at 1-5 to 0-2 with little more than 10 minutes of
the first half to play. But suddenly the Mourne volcano erupted, and a three-minute
blast produced a goal and two points to narrow the gap to a point. Shane Ward
ran on to a knockdown from O'Prey to finish to the net from close range, and points
followed from Ronan Sexton and substitute Daniel Hughes. But Donegal responded
with a frenzied finish to the half, ripping through the Down defence with alarming
ease. The pick of a run of four points was Sweeney's thumping long range effort,
and the half finished in a personal disaster for Down's goalkeeper McVeigh when
he somehow fumbled Christy Toye's dipping effort from distance into his own net.
Donegal led by 2-9 to 1-5 at the break, and when McDermott raced through for a
delightful solo goal 10 minutes into the second half, they were on their way back
to Croker for the second successive year. Benny Coulter
pulled back a goal for Down in the 53rd minute, finishing Ronan Sexton's cross
to the net from close range, and half back Brendan Grant made an impressive contribution
with three well taken points. But Donegal, with Raymond Sweeney and Shane Carr
solid at the back, were always able to deliver a meaningful response, and Sweeney
just couldn't miss. In the end, it was easy for Donegal, and they finished with
real style, Gildea and Hegarty rounding off a sound afternoon's work with sweet
points. Donegal - T Blake; N McCready, R Sweeney, M Crossan;
S Carr, B Monaghan, K Cassidy; J Gildea 0-1, S McDermott 1-1; C Toye 1-1, M Hegarty
1-1, J McGuinness; B Roper 0-1, A Sweeney 0-6 (1f), B Devenney 0-4 (2f).
Subs:
J Haran for McGuinness, P McGonagle for Roper, J McCafferty for Devenney.
Down - M McVeigh; J Clarke, B Burns, B Grant 0-3; M Cole, L Doyle 0-2 (2f), J
Lavery; Sean Ward, A Molloy; M Walsh 0-1, B Coulter 1-1, R Sexton 0-1; Shane Ward
1-0, A O'Prey, R Murtagh 0-1.
Subs: D Hughes 0-1 for Murtagh, A Scullion for
Sean Ward, S Mulholland for Clarke, M Higgins for O'Prey, J McCartan for Walsh.
Wides
Donegal 5
Down 8 Bookings
Donegal - N McCready
Down - J McCartan, R Sexton Attendance
10,192
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