Donegal U-20 hurlers easily topple Monaghan with a bit to spare

Round 3 of the Ulster Hurling Development League pitched Donegal against Monaghan at Cloghan on Sunday with the visitors coming away with a nine-point win.

On a cold afternoon at the Monaghan GAA Centre of Excellence, Donegal were in control of the proceedings from the start keeping Monaghan to a single point for their first 30 minutes of effort to Donegal nine at the break. 

Daire Tully, Evan McFadden and Fiachra Gill all scored from play and Brendan Gaffey, on free-taking duty, contributed to the first-half tally. 

Despite that, Donegal were wasteful with a full 13 wides or balls dropped short in that first half.

The Donegal lads continued to keep a hold of the direction of the game after the restart allowing Adie Gaffey and his backroom team to make wholesale changes and empty the bench in that second-half.  

There were only a further three scores from play in the second period by the visitors. Monaghan’s Ryan O’Rourke and Euan Finnegan were amongst their notable contributors and Donegal’s captain and vice-captains Donal Farrelly, Adain McKinney and Daire Tully lead the charge for the visitors. 

In the back line, Cormac Hanlon slotted in perfectly in the Donegal defence in Conor Neely’s absence helping to keep Monaghan’s final tally for the day to only six points. 

Brendan Gaffey was accurate on the placed ball with nine of the Donegal total. A standout performance by Evan McFadden over the 60 minutes made him Donegal’sl talisman on the day.

Next up, on the road for Donegal, are Tyrone before a final home fixture against Armagh in Convoy the following Sunday.

Donegal: Joseph Patton; Joseph Duddy, Conor Neely, JP Curran; Evan McFadden, Oisin Diver, Adam McKinney; Daire Tully, Donal Farrelly; Brendan Gaffney; Fiachra Gill, Michael McCarron; Ciaran Porter, Fionn Farren, Eoghan Walsh. 

Subs: Fionnian Gill, Matthew Callaghan, Cormac Hanlon, Davitt Bradley Finn, Stephen Browne, Odhran Mulligan, Rian McBrearty, Tristan Boyle, Oran Lafferty, Conor Lafferty, Callum Purves.