Dublin make it hard on themselves before finally quelling a dogged Donegal

Dublin 1-15 Donegal 1-10

Dublin’s march on the county’s first back-to-back All-Ireland in nearly 40 years took an eventful road through old rivals Donegal in Saturday’s All-Ireland quarter-final before a capacity crowd in Croke Park.

Replacement Paul Mannion sealed the deal with a great goal six minutes into injury-time, drifting past a tiring defence and accelerating from a point-scoring position to the place where he could slide the ball past Mark Anthony McGinley with a finish that was calm and decisive.

Having controlled the match with admirable poise for the first 40 minutes, the champions gave themselves big problems and reawakened long-lost possibilities for their opponents by conceding a sloppy goal and then sustaining personnel loss with Diarmuid Connolly picking up a second yellow a couple of minutes later.

Deep in injury-time the team would lose a second player when another indiscipline recidivist Eoghan O'Gara was red-carded for striking Niall McGee. Manager Jim Gavin defended his players but as someone who values self-control and focus he will be unhappy that the team is still being weakened by players' inability to resist the – admittedly in Connolly's case now routine – provocation of opponents.

Vexed

He declined to get involved on the issue of Donegal’s transgressions but is presumably vexed that

Michael Murphy

14th-minute clatter on

Brian Fenton

fetched just a yellow card although in fairness to the referee, the extent of it was really only clear on a couple of reviews.

There was however plenty of encouragement for Gavin. His defence, missing half of its All-Ireland personnel – James McCarthy’s withdrawal before the throw-in confirming what had been widely suspected about his injury - played diligently and effectively. Philip McMahon had his best performance of the campaign and rookie corner back David Byrne also gave an impressive display.

It’s not that Donegal threatened for much of the match. Rory Gallagher’s team contented themselves with sitting back until the quarter-final lurched back into play after around 45 minutes. But when the Ulster finalists did commit to attack, Murphy and Patrick McBrearty, whose shooting prowess downed Cork a week previously, were well marked, managing just a point from play between them.

Defensive system

Dublin’s defensive system, built on the rubble of the Donegal defeat two years ago, did its job, shutting down the middle through which their opponents had made such damaging inroads in 2014. A moment of carelessness by – of all people – Cian O’Sullivan, the key sentry in the restructured defence, opened up the approaches for Ryan McHugh’s 44th-minute goal, palmed in after a penetrating run by Eamon McGee.

A feature of the afternoon was the display of Ciarán Kilkenny, who reprised his role from the second half of the Leinster final as a half-back in the absence of McCarthy. More than 50 possessions was the statistical tally for the team’s most likely candidate for Footballer of the Year.

Many of them were unchallenged but Kilkenny’s ability to direct the traffic and guard against turnovers was hugely impressive even if the loss to the forwards of his being able to manage operations farther up the field and his shooting accuracy – a reminder of which came in the 25th minute when he finished a typically patient build-up involving Paddy Andrews and Kevin McManamon – was also felt.

Donegal looked tired. Their experienced players have been on the go for so long at this stage – Colm McFadden, a major figure in the 2012 All-Ireland announced his retirement and there may be others thinking the same way – that they look to embarking on a period of major reconstruction.

But there’s still plenty of young talent in the county: the McHughs, Murphy, McBrearty, Odhrán Mac Niallais for all the flatness of his recent performances.

Things had changed however since 2014. Murphy looks in need of a decent break and the absence of Neil Gallagher has stretched the Donegal captain even further in his dual role as centrefield auxiliary and edge-of-the square threat. The emergence of Brian Fenton in Dublin’s centrefield also tilted that balance and he had another phenomenal match before being black carded in injury-time.

Although the match looks like an exercise in the predictable there was a sense when the margin was down to three points, which it was three times in the second half, that even if Dublin weren’t exactly in bother, any further reduction of the lead and they would have been.

In that context, two scores in the 60th and 62nd minute were critical. McManamon got the first off a typically powerful run down the left and Jonny Cooper, timing his support run in attack well, kicked the other to give Dublin a five-point cushion.

On a day when established forwards were a bit below-par - aside from Connolly, Bernard Brogan and Andrews were replaced with a point scored between them – McManamon gave a performance that was sustained and productive, Dean Rock’s free taking has been reliable as well as taking the pressure off Stephen Cluxton.

Mannion’s display off the bench was also a bright spot for Gavin. He secured the team’s last 1-1, scores that left the match skewered and cooked.

Kerry are next up at the end of the month by which stage Dublin will hope to have McCarthy back in action.

DUBLIN: 1 Stephen Cluxton; 2 Philip McMahon (0-1), 3 Jonny Cooper (0-1), 4 David Byrne; 12 Ciarán Kilkenny (0-1), 6 Cian O'Sullivan, 7 John Small; 8 Brian Fenton, 9 MD Macauley; 10 Paul Flynn, 12 Diarmuid Connolly (0-2), 11 Kevin McManamon (0-3); 17 Paddy Andrews (0-1), 13 Dean Rock (0-5, four frees, one 45), 15 Bernard Brogan.

Subs: 2 Darren Daly for Brogan (48 mins), 18 Denis Bastick for Macauley (53 mins), 24 Paul Mannion (1-1) for Andrews (57 mins), 26 Eoghan O'Gara for McManamon (64 mins), 23 Eric Lowndes for Rock (73 mins), 22 Michael Fitzsimons for Fenton (black card, 78 mins).

DONEGAL: 1 MA McGinley; 2 Paddy McGrath, 3 Neil McGee, 4 Eamonn McGee; 5 Ryan McHugh (1-0), 6 Karl Lacey, 7 Frank McGlynn; 8 Rory Kavanagh, 9 Odhrán Mac Niallais; 10 Anthony Thompson (0-1), 11 Martin McElhinney, 12 Eoin McHugh; 13 Patrick McBrearty (0-3, two frees), 14 Michael Murphy (capt; 0-6, five frees, one 45), 15 Martin O'Reilly.

Subs: 17 Ciarán Gillespie for Mac Niallais (half-time), 18 Leo McLoone for Kavanagh (42 mins), 19 Christy Toye for Thompson (48 mins), 22 Mark McHugh for E McGee (55 mins), 24 Ciarán Thompson for McElhinney (61 mins), 20 Colm McFadden for Lacey (71 mins).

 Referee: Ciarán Branagan (Down).