Derry 1-14 Donegal 1-12: DERRY ARE on a roll. "Into the mouth of the dragon" was how Paddy Crozier described this assignment. Anyhow, they walked out unharmed.
The league champions had the muscle, the heart and the class to see off the best that Donegal could summon as they seek their first Ulster title in 10 years. This may be the day that this current Oak Leaf team came of age. Their leading man was unquestionably Paddy Bradley, who overcame a jittery opening act to deliver an unstoppable flow of scores.
But all through the field, you could see the Derrymen growing stronger and more confident as the match went on and, in barbarously hot weather, they pretty much told Donegal how it was going to be during the last 20 minutes of an engrossing contest.
It wasn't just the soaring fetching of Derry's towering midfield players - Joe Diver and substitute James Conway dominating the skies - or that they were brisk and businesslike in the way they reeled the home team in during the second half, steadily narrowing the gap until the match was poised beautifully at 1-11 apiece and a full 20 minutes to play. The most impressive thing about Derry was that when they reached this crucial point, they bossed and bullied and outplayed their opponents so completely that Donegal seemed to disappear.
And not just the players on the field; everything about Mac Cumhaill Park seemed to turn a candy-stripe red. The Donegal crowd disappeared, the home advantage disappeared and the smooth attacking moves that marked much of their first-half play disappeared.
Donegal spent six hard months thinking about and training for this match but, in the end, it all melted away faster than a kid's ice-cream cone on the hot streets around Ballybofey.
You could see it in the body language when Conway won a high ball and a free and flexed his arms and screamed at his team for more. There was something of a controlled fury about Derry here, and when the match was on the line, they behaved as if they knew, as if they absolutely knew, that they would be the victors.
And they stuck to their primary plan of getting the ball to one P Bradley. It's a simple plan and a good one. For the point that put Derry into the lead, Eamonn McGee did brilliantly to get a hand on a high, bouncing ball as he chased Bradley's shadow and, with Karl Lacey covering, it looked as if the stretched last line would survive. But in a flash, Bradley was on the ball and burst through to clip a killer point from play.
With that lead, Derry pressed on. They kept their heads and, for great chunks of precious time, the ball as they shut Donegal out.
Bradley calmly dispatched two frees to push Derry into the clear and Donegal's response became more hurried and desperate.
When Donegal review this match - they have almost two months to think about it - the most glaring fact will be their failure to land any score between the 46th minute and the 71st, when Rory Kavanagh flashed over a point when his team were in dire straits.
That dry spell was a shocking and inexplicable reversal of form given the nature of their play.
They had attacked with purpose and verve. The target man Colm McFadden looked sharp and accurate; Michael Murphy, a talented big man who sits his Leaving Certificate next week, had a smashing 50 minutes, causing the Derry big men all kinds of problems and landing the best point of the day in the 45th minute when he rescued Donegal from a messy, crowded attack by landing a high, curling, right-foot point on the run.
Just after that, the veteran Barry Monaghan - a late call-up - rumbled forward and coolly struck a point that left the home team three clear. Then came the old failings, the hesitancy and the nerves and when Derry came pressing and asked questions, Donegal failed to respond until the dying seconds were upon them.
Derry deserved to win. Paddy Crozier cleverly redeployed his defence at half-time, noting that Kavanagh had been running riot on the wings and the Donegal inside forwards were having too much fun. Niall McCusker dropped back, Kevin McCloy guarded Murphy and they put the choke on the Donegal scoring men when points were needed most.
Donegal had no answer and failed to rally even after the perceived injustices of a dubious technical decision that gave Conleth Gilligan a hugely significant free and by the fact Fergal Doherty's back-of-the-hand cuff across Rory Kavanagh's head was strangely disregarded by the referee. The television camera caught the shot, and the likely suspension for Doherty is the only shadow on Derry's day.
This felt like a heavyweight football match and Derry learned more about themselves in winning. They cannot always bet on the Bradley boys running amok - Eoin chipped in with 1-1 from play - and there were times when the Donegal lads poured through gaps in the Derry defence. But they shipped the blows and stayed cool and left their neighbours in a dark place on a gorgeous afternoon.
Ballybofey was a quiet town last night but in Mac Cumhaill Park, long after the stands had been swept and the flags taken away and the scoreboard cleaned, the Derry squad returned to the field and stood in a circle as the sun dropped down behind the Twin Towns. Paddy Crozier stood in the centre circle talking. It is too early to speculate if this Derry team can emulate the celebrated side of the early 1990s but as they stood on the field planning bold dreams, they deserved the right to be classed as contenders.
DERRY: J Deighan; K McGuckin, K McCloy, F McEldowney; G O'Kane, N McCusker, M McIver; F Doherty, J Diver; M Lynch, P Murphy, E Muldoon (0-1); C Gilligan (0-2 frees), P Bradley (0-10, seven frees), E Bradley (1-1). Subs: P Cartin for McIver (half-time), J Conway for Murphy (47 mins), P Devlin for Lynch (67 mins). Booked: Gilligan (14 mins), O'Kane (29 mins), McCusker (33 mins), McEldowney (46 mins), Diver (47 mins).
DONEGAL: P Durcan; N McGee, E McGee, B Dunnion; F McGlynn, B Monaghan (0-1), K Lacey; K Cassidy (0-1), N Gallagher; C Toye, M Hegarty, R Kavanagh (0-2); M Murphy (1-1), C McFadden (0-6, four frees), D Walsh (0-1). Subs: B Roper for Hegarty (54 mins), K Rafferty for Toye (56 mins). Booked: R Kavanagh (29 mins), Lacey (34 mins), Monaghan (62 mins), E McGee (68 mins).
Referee: M Duffy (Sligo).
