Fermanagh: 1-12 - Rory Gallagher 1-6 (three frees, 45); Ray Gallagher, S McDermott 0-2 each; S King (free), J Gilheany 0-1 each.

Donegal: 0-13 - T Boyle 0-5 (four frees, 45); A Sweeney 0-3 (two frees); B McLaughlin, M Hegarty, O Reid, J Gildea, B Devenney 0-1 each.

Referee: Des Joyce (Galway).

Bookings: Fermanagh - B Carty, T Collins, P Brewster, L McBarron, K Donnelly, Ray Gallagher. Donegal - N McGinley, P Campbell, B McLaughlin, J McGuinness, J Gildea, T Boyle, B Devenney, D Bonner (manager). Sent-off: Fermanagh - T Collins.

All the essentials for a rollercoaster championship match, not least the unexpected result, had the 10,000 crowd breathless at Ballybofey yesterday as Fermanagh, reduced to 14 players for the entire second half, reached their first Ulster senior semi-final in eight years.

An apparent biting incident, a missed penalty and the resignation afterwards of Donegal manager Declan Bonner were among the talking points of a game that will also be remembered for the refereeing of Galway's Des Joyce.

Martin McHugh became the short odds favourite to succeed Bonner, who ended his three-year spell as manager following a defeat that had clearly taken him by surprise. "I have a young growing family and I was always going to end this chapter in my life at the end of the summer anyway," he said. "I enjoyed it but I was hoping to go out on a higher note and had anticipated a good crack at Armagh."

Joyce brandished 14 yellow cards and dismissed Fermanagh centre back Tony Collins during first-half injury time. The dismissal followed something of a bizarre incident. Collins was involved in a scuffle with John Gildea, arguably one of Donegal's best players. After the referee had spoken to both players, Collins was seen to retaliate and earned the ultimate sanction. When walking from the pitch Collins nursed a damaged finger which, according to video evidence, appeared to have been bitten.

Fermanagh's influential half forward and match winner, Rory Gallagher scored the goal that changed the course of the first half when rounding off good work by Paul Brewster and Stephen Maguire before chipping Tony Blake. The 26th-minute strike gave Fermanagh a 1-5 to 0-3 lead with wind advantage.

But Fermanagh manager Pat King was convinced that Tony Boyles' missed penalty for Donegal, after Aidan Sweeney was brought down in full flight, was the defining moment of the match.

Donegal had just taken a 0-13 to 1-8 lead with points from wing back Ollie Reid and Michael Hegarty when Boyle was presented with the opportunity to give his side a five-point advantage 20 minutes into the second half.

But the forward hit a low shot that went narrowly wide of the left post.

"That missed penalty gave our fellows real motivation, better in fact than I could have done with words," said King.

Bonner also picked out the penalty miss as being the biggest factor in Donegal's defeat. "You cannot miss opportunities like that but these things happen. The many wides we had in a championship match was also crucial."

Following the miss, Fermanagh's midfielders improved by the minute and eventually overwhelmed Jimmy McGuinness and Brian McLaughlin, who were replaced in the closing stages.

Fermanagh were to suffer another blow when Rory Gallagher had to retire with a knee injury after 52 minutes. But when his replacement, Shane McDermott, put his team on level terms with an inspirational point, it was apparent that Fermanagh were in the ascendancy.

McDermott featured again at the death with another fine point after Shane King had restored Fermanagh's lead from a free.

"I told them to go out for the second half with their heads high. We had outplayed Donegal in the first half with 15 players and we were capable of doing the same with 14," said King.