Cork’s third consecutive victory over Ulster opposition was overshadowed by a serious knee injury suffered by Colm O’Neill at Pairc Ui Rinn.
The 24-year-old 2012 All Star crumbled in a heap after chasing a ball out to the wing after only 15 minutes and had to be taken off on a stretcher.
O'Neill has a history of the dreaded cruciate, twice recovering from surgery to display his undoubted potential in 2012, when he was one of best forwards in the country and he carried that form into this season too.
Now, though, O'Neill faces an anxious wait before knowing his fate with the ugly prospect that his season could be over in mid-March.
“The medics won't have a clear view until the scan,” said manager Conor Counihan. “All we can do is keep our fingers crossed. It was great to get the two points, but getting Colm right would be a bigger bonus. This one was for Colm.”
Cork’s victory was based on a magnificent third quarter, when they scored seven points without response to charge 0-12 to 0-7 clear.
However, Donegal claimed the last three scores and were denied a clear goal-scoring opportunity by Eoin Cadogan's cynical foul on Michael Murphy.
Cadogan duly received a yellow card, but Colm McFadden’s pointed free was scant reward and manager Jim McGuinness declined the invitation to dwell too much on the incident afterwards.
“It was obvious what the tactic was when our player got through on goal. I don’t know whether it was a penalty or not. It’s neither here nor there now.
“It was disappointing, because it was the one time we got quality ball into our full forward line, but we had a goal chance taken away from us.”
O’Neill’s unfortunate injury seemed to affect both sets of players as the standard of play in the remainder of the half left a lot to be desired with woeful shooting the norm.
“We created 12 opportunities, but only took three, but we improved in that aspect in the second,” said Counihan. “The turn around was just pure grit on behalf of the boys and we must also credit our goalkeeper for making two very good saves.
Ken O’Halloran stuck out his right boot to divert Ross Wherty's shot out for a 45, which Michael Murphy converted after 42 minutes, but Cork took over to gain a firm stranglehold.
The hard-working Mark Collins started the scoring spree as Liam Shorten, Andrew O’Sullivan, Aidan Walsh and Paudie Kissane also found the range to put Cork on the road to victory.
In defence, Michael Shields and Cadogan generally held McFadden and Murphy as Cork prepare to face Kerry next Sunday. “We’ve been working hard on our defence and while we probably gave Donegal too much scope in the first-half, we tightened up well in the second.
“We’ve put three wins together in the league. The question is can we make it four against Kerry next weekend?
There’ll be no panic from the Sam Maguire Cup holders as McGuinness explained.
“We weren’t our usual selves. We’re in the middle of a training phase and that reflected the way we played,” he said.
