Nine fresh faces on display as Donegal lose out to Down in the McKenna Cup

It was a first half for football and a second for fresh faces as Paddy Carr’s first outing as manager of Donegal ended in a seven-point defeat to Down in Newry.

Down 2-14 Donegal 1-10

Conor Francis and Liam Kerr’s goals in the first 35 minutes laid the foundation for Down, as did five scores from Pat Havern at full-forward. Carr would’ve been glad to see his panel get out onto the pitch and 26 of his players saw action, nine of them for the first time as senior inter-county footballers, and Daire Ó Baoill got the goal. 

For fare on January’s first Sunday, it was pretty open and pretty entertaining, with both teams willing to show a variation between fist and kick pass, certainly to begin with. Down had opened their own new era under Conor Laverty with a 2-10 to 0-12 win in Castleblayney against Monaghan and that outing in the legs was evident in the opening exchanges, with Donegal taking a short while to settle.

Points from Niall Donnelly and Barry O’Hagan got things moving for the home side and only six minutes had been played when they got in for goal. Liam Kerr came running through like a train and, when found by Danny Magill, barely had to break stride as he shot low across Michael Lynch in the Donegal goal.

That put Down 1-2 to 0-0 in front, with the first Donegal point of the new tenure going to Ciaran Thompson, who put over a fine score from distance. Although nothing has been confirmed in regards to the new captain following the retirement of Michael Murphy, it was Thompson who led the team on the day and was the one who conducted the coin toss.

Four minutes later, Donegal manufactured a goal when Stephen McMenamin made a break into Down territory and with the home defence hesitant, found Jamie Brennan to his right. Brennan, who put on the burners on a few occasions when in possession, saw Daire Ó Baoill inside and a simple squared ball towards the Gaoth Dobhair man, who netted a tap-in goal from the edge of the small square.

Play ebbed and flowed and both teams had their moments on top, with Havern's name becoming an important facet of the contest, with four first half points from play.

He had three in the bank by the time the first quarter rolled into the second, although it was 1-5 to 1-5, with Brennan skipping inside to point for Donegal and Patrick McBrearty taking responsibility with three. His marked point on 17 minutes was top class, having fetched a brilliant pass from Thompson, who, moments later, drove a shot just wide when going for goal after a Brennan turnover.

Down, though, were to have their spell in the ascendency and made plenty from it before the break. A Patrick Branagan stinger brought a good save from Lynch at the concession of a point and in a spell of 1-4 without reply, also scored points from O’Hagan, Francis and Havern.

The goal, on 31 minutes from Francis, concluded a rapid-fire movement of fistpassing with O’Hagan, Branagan and Conor Fitzpatrick all involved. It put Down six points in front, although that was pinned back to four by the break, with Brennan popping over a right-footed free and McBrearty with his fourth of the half. At the interval, Donegal trailed 2-9 to 1-7.

Domhnall Mac Giolla Bhride, who was named to replace Caolan McGongile before throw-in, was a debutant along with Luke McGlynn, while Killybegs’ Jack McSharry and Joel Bradley Walsh of MacCumhaill’s made their senior bows as half-time substitutes. Kane Barrett, Brian O'Donnell, John Ross Molloy, Hugh O’Donnell and Johnny McGroddy would follow in the second half.

The benches rolled and the pace slowed, with the fourth official busier than the four umpires combined. Donegal certainly weren’t overly enamored with referee Maggie Farrelly’s decision to pull play back - with Conor O’Donnell through on goal - for a foul on McBrearty 10 minutes into part two. Down’s Fitzpatrick was black-carded for the foul.

Midway through the second period and, with the contest having got pretty untidy, both had only added one more point, with Kerr and McBrearty the scorers which meant a 2-11 to 1-8 advantage for Down. McGroddy, just on, scored a peach of a point on 61 minutes. Mark Walsh, with another stylish point, replied for Down to restore the six-point cushion.

Tom Close and a 45 from Anthony Doherty rounded off the scoring for the hosts and sealed Down’s place in the semi-finals of the competition. Barrett put over Donegal’s last score and they welcome Monaghan on Wednesday night.

Down scorers: Pat Havern 0-5; Conor Francis and Liam Kerr 1-1; Barry O’Hagan 0-2, 1f; Niall Donnelly, Patrick Branagan, Mark Walsh, Tom Close 0-1; Anthony Doherty 0-1, 45.
Donegal scorers: Patrick McBrearty 0-5, 3f; 1m; Daire Ó Baoill 1-0; Jamie Brennan 0-2, 1f; Ciaran Thompson, Johnny McGroddy and Kane Barrett 0-1.

Down: John O’Hare; Peter Fegan, Conor Fitzpatrick, Pierce Laverty; Patrick Branagan, Niall McParland, Conor Francis; Niall Donnelly, Owen McCabe; Danny Magill, Liam Kerr, Ryan McEvoy; Barry O’Hagan, Pat Havern, Eamon Brown. Subs: Andrew Gilmore for Brown (28), Patrick McCarthy and Mark Walsh for Fegan and Magill (40), Tom Close and Michael Rooney for McCabe and McEvoy (47), Rory Mason, Donnach McAleenan and Anthony Doherty for Branagan, Kerr and O’Hagan (57), Michael Ireland for Havern (62), Sean Dornan for Donnelly (67), Declan McClements for Gilmore (69)

Donegal: Michael Lynch; Stephen McMenamin, Brendan McCole, Jamie Grant; Caolan McColgan, Caolan Ward, Jeaic Mac Ceallabhuí; Rory O’Donnell, Domhnall Mac Giolla Bhride; Luke McGlynn, Ciaran Thompson, Conor O’Donnell; Jamie McBrennan, Patrick McBrearty, Daire Ó Baoill. Subs: Ryan McFadden for R O’Donnell (30); Mark Curran, Jack McSharry, Joel Bradley Walsh for Mac Ceallabhuí, McGlynn and Thompson and (half-time); Brian O’Donnell, John Ross Molloy and Kane Barrett for Mac Giolla Bhride, McColgan and Brennan (45), Marty O’Reilly for O’Donnell (58), Hugh O’Donnell and Johnny McGroddy for C O’Donnell and Ó Baoil (60),

Referee: Maggie Farrelly (Cavan).