Donegal turn on the style late on against UUJ to seal first Conor McGurk final place

Donegal piled eventual agony on the students from University of Ulster Jordanstown in this most emphatic victory to reach their first ever Conor McGurk final.

UUJ 1-17
Donegal 3-25

Mickey McCann’s side will now face Down in the final of the competition on Wednesday at the Dub Arena at Queen’s University.

Donegal were a point in front at the break with Tyrone’s Cain Ferguson shooting the UUJ goal past Luke White, before a Donegal reply at the other end from Ronan McDermott.

Man of the match White got his revenge as saved a second half penalty from Ferguson and Donegal’s second goal came from Davin Flynn - the former Tipperary junior - from a penalty as the visitors ran away with it at the end.

Happy manager McCann last week said this was the strongest ever panel in the county and he was certainly vindicated today as his charges simply annihilated the opposition who were studded with some fine strong physical players themselves.

This was a much tougher test than last week, but McCann’s men showed from the start that they were more than equal to the challenge.

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Flynn finished with a grand total of 1-8 in a most impressive return for his first match back in the county colours and Gerard Gilmore also had a profitable time up front with a tally of 0-5.

All the usual suspects stood tall for Donegal from commanding full-back Stephen Gillespie to arch executioner Flynn on the edge of the square.

Once again, the sheer physical power of Donegal was an attribute the students just could not match in the end. and the half-back-line of Jack O’Loughlin, Gavin Browne and Sean McVeigh is as strong as they come.

Up front, the strong running McDermott and the sheer power and panache of Ryan were also key factors in this big victory. And the sheer strength in depth of the squad was obvious with the likes of the vastly experienced Declan Coulter and Niall Cleary on the bench and Danny Cullen also has to come back to the squad following his honeymoon.

The first half was very evenly contested with only a point between the sides with Donegal leading by 1-8 to 1-7-the goal coming from the hard running Ronan McDermott in the 35th minute as the opposition’s keeper Leo Passmore dropped the ball over the line.

Gilmore landed a superb sideline cut for Donegal in this half with Ryan also chipping in. Bernard Lafferty was also on target for the winners

But the third quarter was tit for tat with Daithi Sands of Down and Ferguson very prominent for the losers and Ferguson found the net in the first half.

Undaunted Donegal hit back with a brace of points from Flynn, who was growing into the game. But the students doggedly hung in to make a real match of it.

And it was only really in the final quarter that Donegal pulled away as McDermott was hauled down and Flynn converted the penalty to open a four-point gap. That was the spur for Donegal to step on the petrol and coast clear. White’s penalty save was supplemented with two other fine stops.

Donegal also lost full back Gillespie to a black card in this period, but it did not deter them from striding to a very impressive victory. They are now looking forward with confidence to that final date with Down.

Donegal: Luke White; Brian McIntyre, Stephen Gillespie, Padraic Doherty; Jack O’Loughlin (0-2) Gavin Browne, Sean McVeigh (0-1); Michael O’Donoghue, Conor Gartland; Gerry Gilmore (0-5) Ronan McDermott (2-1) Bernard Lafferty (0-2); Josh Cronolly McGee, Ritchie Ryan (0-5) Davin Flynn (1-8). Sub Cathal Doherty (0-1).