Donegal hurlers miss out on final place by a minimum margin

Donegal’s bid for a Division 2B Allianz NHL final ended in disappointment with Mickey McCann’s men suffering a one-point defeat to Tyrone at O’Donnell Park.   

Despite having an understrength and young side, Donegal put their neighbours to the pin of their collar as they came back from seven points down early in the second half.  

McCann was forced to make six changes from the team that defeated London last weekend with many players absent from the squad. 

Setanta players Stephen McBride, Bernard Lafferty, Gerard Gilmore, Josh Cronnolly McGee, and Rúairí Campbell all missed the game due to a club holiday. 

The opening was a lively affair with both sides going for it as the goals flowed. The green flag was raised seven times in the opening 35 minutes with Donegal scoring three and the Red Hands four. 

Peter Kelly scored two of the Donegal goals with Seán McVeigh scoring the other. Cormac Munrow, Joe McToal, Seán Óg Grogan and Lorcan Devlin raised the green flags for Tyrone who led 4-5 to Donegal 3-3 at half-time. 

Despite being down a handful of players and playing in to a very strong wind, Donegal got off to a lightning start with two goals inside the opening three minutes.  

Oisin Kelly, having his first start in the league so far, following a number of impressive performances off the bench in recent weeks, struck the first goal after only 16 seconds.  

The corner-forward tapped to the back of the Tyrone net when the ball was played across the Tyrone goal mouth.  

And under two minutes later, the former Donegal captain Seán McVeigh was the right man in the right place to produce a carbon copy of his clubmates' opening goal when he hit the back of the net. 

Those two were then followed by Cormac Munroe on six minutes, Joe Toal on eight minutes, Sean Óg Grogan on 21 minutes and Lorcan Devlin two minutes later, when they all added their names to the scoresheet by raising green flags for the O’Neill County as Tyrone marched to the dressing room at the break, leading 4-5 to 3-3. 

Peter Kelly and Liam McKinney trimmed the Tyrone half-time advantage back to three, with two quick-fire points on the resumption.  

But a fifth Tyrone goal 12 minutes into the second half opened up a seven-point gap between the teams.  

Brian Óg McIntyre and Aidy Kelly traded points before Donegal stepped to post six scores between the posts without reply, courtesy of Conor O’Grady, Peter Kelly, Conor Gartland, and McKinney all splitting the post. 

With the lead back to three, Tyrone found themselves on the back foot and when Oisin Marley landed two points shortly after his introduction the Tyrone lead was back to one with the clock nearly hitting full-time.  

But Rory Weir and Cormac Munroe settled Tyrone's nerves to restore a three-point advantage with points of their own.  

But Donegal refused to buckle and deep in injury time Brian Óg McIntyre and Conor Gartland had the final say with two late points, but it was not enough as the Red Hand County emerged victorious on the day.  

Scorers - Donegal: Peter Kelly 2-2; Sean McVeigh 1-1; Liam McKinney, 0-4, 2f; Oisin Marley, Brian Óg McIntyre 0-2 each; Conor Garland, Conor O’Grady and Jack O’Loughlin 0-1 each. Tyrone: Lorcan Devlin, Seán Óg Grogan, and Cormac Munroe 1-1 each; Joe McToal, and Tiaran Morgan 1-0 each; Aidy Kelly 0-2,1f; Ben Gormley, Fionn Devlin, Turlough Millin and Rory Weir 0-1 each. 

Donegal: Luke White; Oisin Kelly, Ciaran Bradley, Gavin Browne; Jack O’Loughlin, Stephen Gillespie, Conor O’Grady; Conor Gartland, Liam McKinney; Ryan Hilferty, Oisin Porter, Brian McIntyre; Daire O'Maoileidigh, Sean McVeigh, Peter Kelly. Subs: Oisin Marley for O'Maoileidigh (54); Cathal O’Brien for O'Grady (67); Conor Griffin for Hilferty (71).  

Tyrone: Conor McElhatton; Dean Rafferty, Tiarnan Morgan, Oran McKee; Ben Gormley, Fionn Devlin, Bryan McGuirk; James McCann, Cormac Munroe; Seamus Sweeny, Aidy Kelly, Joe McToal; Rory Weir, Sean Óg Grogan, Lorcan Devlin. Subs: Rory Weir for McToal (h/t); Ruari Devlin for Mullin (58); Cormac Taggart for Morgan (70). 

Referee: Peter Owens (Down)