Donegal do what's required in dour affair

Donegal 1-10 Antrim 0-7:CHAMPIONSHIP FOOTBALL is, we know, all about winning but seldom does it get stripped back to that bare reality as graphically as in MacCumhaill Park Ballybofey yesterday: because at the end of this Ulster preliminary round drizzlefest there was nothing left except the result.

Donegal rumbled through the rain and did what they had to do, taking scores with a modicum of efficiency whereas Antrim didn’t have the strength or firepower to impose themselves up front.

Even the losing manager – the estimably blunt Liam “Baker” Bradley – stated he wouldn’t willingly pay into such a match as the one his team had just lost.

The attendance of 7,385 – 5,000 down on when Antrim sprang a surprise at the same venue two years ago – would presumably have agreed had they been given that retrospective option.

The weather didn’t help either team whose preference for the short-passing, support game was disrupted by the wet ball but as Donegal manager Jim McGuinness pointed out afterwards, conditions were no worse than in several league matches during which his team’s handling had been better.

Nerves perhaps played a role in the highly cautious approach from both sides but when post-match interviews feature questions about whether there are too many players allowed on the field it’s clear that adventure wasn’t high on anyone’s agenda.

Short of imposing congestion charges on forwards dropping behind the 45-metre line, it’s difficult to see how yesterday’s match could have been shaken into a more appealing spectacle.

There were however good performances from a number of players and although they lost, Antrim’s defence kept the score conceded to manageable proportions although the number of frees given away – albeit the number of awards were disputed by Bradley – helped the winners keep the scoreboard ticking over.

With both sides playing a stripped down attack and crowding the rain-swept territories of the interior, scores were hard to come by in the initial stages. By 20 minutes the scores were level at 0-1 each – Kevin Niblock having cancelled out Colm McFadden’s opening free.

The pace of scoring picked up a bit in the 15 minutes before half-time and it was the home side that was starting to turn the screw. Ryan Bradley kicked a couple of points and Adrian Hanlon, Dermot Molloy and Murphy from a free added to the tally with two points from Paddy Cunningham, one a free, the response.

It was clear Donegal, leading 0-6 to 0-3 at the break, had the stronger hand. The defence prevented Antrim’s forwards from deriving much nourishment from what scraps they managed to get and even at those stages when the visitors had a bit more of the play – with Tony Scullion making a few signature bursts from defence – they couldn’t achieve sufficient penetration.

Back after injury, Michael McCann played at full forward but the gamble of starting him didn’t really pay off whereas Paddy Cunningham was well-marked. Karl Lacey started at centre back and, with the excellent Kevin Cassidy beside him, gave Donegal a good platform for launching attacks. Centrefield, which had gone against Donegal when they lost the fixture two years ago, was a more solid operation even if Rory Kavanagh’s shooting was a bit wayward.

In the circumstances Antrim were pleased to cope so well with their opponents’ top forwards, Michael Murphy – kept scoreless from play by Ricky Johnson – and Colm McFadden although Murphy was frequently playing so deep that his primary function as a finisher couldn’t really be judged.

The match was killed stone dead in the third quarter, as Donegal pushed forward relentlessly and answered Tomás McCann’s score immediately after half-time with four unanswered points for a 0-10 to 0-4 lead – although it took a fine, full-stretch block by full back Neil McGee to thwart Niblock’s 46th-minute shot on goal.

McGuinness introduced replacements, the most notable of which was the teenage Paddy McBrearty who, fresh from 1-3 in the minor match, played the final quarter and didn’t look out of place either physically or in respect of his skills.

Antrim’s reinforcements didn’t have the same impact: Terry O’Neill hit a couple of wides and Mark Dougan, having hoisted a big point in the 64th minute, got himself a red card for elbowing Lacey a couple of minutes later.

Donegal had largely gone to sleep in the last quarter, and allowed the margin to be shrunk to four, 0-10 to 0-6, before the always-lively Mark McHugh finished an eye-catching duet with Daniel McLaughlin, featuring two one-twos, by calmly committing the goalkeeper and rifling the ball into the net and his team emphatically into the quarter-final with Cavan.

DONEGAL: 1. P Durcan; 5. F McGlynn, 3. N McGee, 4. P McGrath; 7. A Thompson, 2. K Lacey, 6. K Cassidy; 8. R Kavanagh, 9. M McElhinney; 10. M McHugh (1-1), 11. D Molloy (0-1), 12. R Bradley (0-2); 13. A Hanlon (0-1), 14. M Murphy (capt; 0-3, frees), 15. C McFadden (0-2, one free). Subs: 17. M Boyle for Thompson (20 mins), 23. M Hegarty for Molloy (53 mins), 27. P McBrearty for Hanlon (53 mins), 22. K Rafferty for McElhinney (57 mins), 24. D McLaughlin for Bradley (66 mins). Yellow cards: McElhinney (8 mins), Murphy (18 mins).

ANTRIM: 1. S O’Neill; 2. K O’Boyle (capt.), 3. R Johnston, 4. C Brady; 5. T Scullion, 6. J Crozier, 7. A Healy; 10. C Murray, 9. A Gallagher; 23. B Herron, 11. T McCann (0-2), 12. M Sweeney; 13. P Cunningham (0-2, one free), 8. M McCann, 15. K Niblock (0-2, frees). Subs: 17. K Brady for M McCann (41 mins), 19. T O’Neill for Sweeney (46 mins), 22. S Burke for Herron (48 mins), 25. M Dougan (0-1) for Cunningham (57 mins). Yellow cards: Niblock (13 mins), Johnson (43 mins). Red card: Dougan (68 mins).

Referee: Maurice Deegan (Laois).