Donegal 1-19; Mayo 0-14
If Kerry look like they are the kings of the GAA football scene at the moment, then there is no doubt that Donegal are the great pretenders.
At O'Donnell Park, Letterkenny on Sunday, they brushed aside a previously impressive Mayo outfit with a nonchalance which suggests that they might avenge last year’s All Ireland final defeat against the Kingdom.
Certainly, their speed and movement as well as the ability to find new personnel suggests that they will be there or thereabouts come the business end of the season.
Jim McGuinness referred to Down in Division 3 as playing very well, suggesting he is looking no further than the opening joust of the Ulster championship but on the evidence of the league so far, Donegal have upped everything, including their workrate - something that had Mayo at sixes and sevens from the off on Sunday.
To give you an indication of their superiority, they were six points ahead at the break despite playing against the considerable breeze in the first half.
Naturally, Mayo didn’t help themselves by deciding that two-pointers were on offer virtually every time they approached the arc when what was required was more football nous to work the ball into a better position for a one-pointer.
The first half was owned by Brendan McCole at full-back who lapped up any stray ball and by Oisin Gallen up front who was sensational in kicking five first-half scores from play. Mayo had no such weapons in their arsenal and it took over quarter of an hour before the far from impressive Ryan O’Donoghue opened Mayo’s account with a two-point free as they trailed 0-11 to 0-5 at the interval.
Neutrals would have hoped for the Connacht men to up their level of intensity on the turnover and they did for a while with points from Darragh Beirne and Conor Loftus. Indeed had Beirne also converted a goal chance, which was denied by Gavin Mulreany, it might have made for an interesting third quarter and beyond but instead the highly impressive Ryan McHugh came forward to land a two-pointer and kill off the game as a contest.
The curtain came down on the game when marauding defender Peadar Mogan popped up and crossed for Conor O’Donnell to flick home to give his side an unassailable advantage of 1-14 to 0-8 with just 11 minutes gone in the half.
Finnbarr Roarty turned the screw with another to make it a 10-point game before the great Michael Murphy made a cameo appearance for the great on the day performer Gallen.
So Donegal kept their 100 pc record going as Mayo’s honeymoon under Andy Moran’s stewardship came to a dead end.
Mayo manager Andy Moran accepted that they were blown out of the water by Donegal’s first-half performance. “It was a very poor first 20 minutes. I thought we recovered a bit before half time. We stuck to the plan, played really well. We only lost the second half by two points against a gale-force wind. We had four or five goal chances and really opened them up. We showed that we could play football, but the opening 25 minutes was very disappointing. We must lick our wounds, go away and learn from this.” he pointed out.
"We had a plan coming out here in the first half. Jim kind of took apart the plan and then all of a sudden you have to change. You have to move and think. Getting players better at that is the key message. Am I happy with what I’m getting in the league? Absolutely,” he stated.
Donegal: G Mulreany; E Bán Gallagher, B McCole, P Mogan; R McHugh (0-3,1tp), C McGonagle, F Roarty (0-2); H McFadden, M Langan; S O’Donnell (0-1), C O’Donnell (1-3), C Moore (0-1); C McCahill (0-3), J McGee, O Gallen (0-6, 0-1f) Subs: M Murphy for Gallen (47); T Carr for Gallagher (56); D Mac Giolla Bhride for J McGee (59); S Malone and P O’Hare for McCahill and McHugh (both 65)
Mayo: R Hennelly; J Coyne, R Brickenden, E Hession (0-1); S Callinan (0-2), D McHugh, F Kelly; B Tuohy (0-1), D O'Connor; J Carney, R O'Donoghue (0-4,tpf,0-1f), J Flynn (0-2); D Beirne (0-2), J Carr, F Boland (0-1) Subs: C Loftus (0-1) for Carr (28); P Durcan for D McHugh (ht); D Duffy for A O’Shea (51); S Howard for F Kelly (58).
Ref: S Hurson (Tyrone).
Kerry 2-17; Galway 3-14
You don’t see this too often, especially on Kerry soil when the local favorites lose a 10-point lead and in the end are glad to get out of the Galway game with a share of the spoils.
At a wind-swept Austin Stack Park in Tralee on Saturday evening, the home followers were in good spirits at the interval, by which time Kerry were 10-points to the good and looking a class apart from their Connacht rivals.
Even when the second-half began it was Kerry who continued to look the better outfit as they went 12 up and then just as you began to feel sorry for Padraic Joyce, Galway woke up for the final quarter.
Goals are a great tonic when you are so far behind and once the Tribesmen claimed a brace through Cian Hernon and Johnny Maher, and Shane McGrath weighed in with two two-pointers, the complexion of the game changed totally.
That both sides had a chance to win is irrelevant because as it turned out a draw was the fair result on the day. Galway have now shown good recovery character as instanced here and previously against Armagh.
The ability to fightback was something Joyce referenced when discussing the match later on television.
“From where we were, 10 points down with 17 minutes to go, it wasn’t looking great, but we got a draw out of it. We’d be very disappointed how we played overall. In the first half, we just couldn’t hold on to the ball up front. We gifted Kerry 2-4 out of their first-half score.
“It’s something we have done in our previous two games and we have tried to rectify it today , but we didn’t, but I’ve said it before, the heart and character in this group is outrageous. We lost a couple of lads during the week with injury, lost Liam Silke just before the off, Dylan McHugh wasn’t fit to play, so down huge experience but the young lads gained great experience here tonight.”
Another boost for the Galway manager was the new that veteran midfielder Paul Conroy has decided to throw in his lot with the squad for another season.
If Joyce was left happy with the second half, his counterpart, Kerry boss Jack O’Connor was an unhappy man at the way his side finished the game.
He declared: “It was disappointing. There was one stage in the second half where we were 12 points up, and you’d think we’d see it home. We turned over a few balls that were crucial. Give credit to Galway, they fought hard and kept at it. In the end we could have lost it. We had a chance at the end to win it, but it wasn’t to be,” he admitted.
Kerry: S Murphy; E Looney, J Foley, D Casey (0-2); A Heinrich, T Morley, G O’Sullivan; Joe O’Connor (0-1), L Smith; C Trant (0-3), S O’Shea, M Burns (0-2); T Brosnan (0-1), D Clifford (1-6, 2 tp), K Evans (1-2) Subs: E Healy for G O’Sullivan (51), M O’Shea for Smith (53), D O’Sullivan for Burns (56), C Brosnan for T Brosnan (64), P Murphy for Foley (69).
Galway: E McGrath; J McGrath, R Roche, J Glynn; B Cogger, C Hernon (1-0), S Kelly; K Molloy, M Tierney (1-4, 1 tpf); S McGrath (0-5, 2 tp), C Mulhearn, J Maher (1-0); F McDonagh, R Finnerty, O Mac Donnacha (0-2 1tp) Subs: F Ó Laoi (0-1) for B Cogger (27), D Ó Flaherty (0-1) for C Mulhearn (42), C Power for R Roche (45), D McHugh (0-1) for K Molloy (47), L Ó Conghaile for O Mac Donnacha (61).
Ref P Faloon (Down).
GAA RESULTS
Allianz FL Division 1
Donegal 1-19 Mayo 0-14
Roscommon 3-18 Armagh 0-24
Kerry 2-17 Galway 3-14
Dublin 1-18 Monaghan 0-17
Allianz FL Division 2
Cork 3-15 Offaly 0-19
Tyrone 2-23 Cavan 1-14
Meath 1-20 Louth 0-22
Derry 3-15 Kildare 1-18
Allianz FL Division 3
Clare 2-18 Fermanagh 0-18
Limerick 1-15 Wexford 1-14
Down 2-15 Westmeath 1-15
Laois 0-18 Sligo 1-8
Allianz FL Division 4
Wicklow 0-14 Waterford 0-9
Leitrim 2-19 London 1-20
Longford 1-27 Antrim 1-14
Carlow 1-17 Tipperary 1-14
Ladies NFL Division 1
Cork 2-8 Armagh 1-9
Ladies NFL Division 4
Wicklow 0-10 Derry 0-9
Sligo 2-8 Longford 3-2
Leitrim 8-20 Kilkenny 1-1
Carlow 2-8 Offaly 0-12
Camogie League Division 1A
Waterford 1-12 Cork 0-9
Kilkenny 2-11 Galway 1-13
Tipperary 2-19 Antrim 0-9
Camogie League Division 1B
Limerick 0-12 Down 0-10
Wexford 2-14 Offaly 0-8
Dublin 0-16 Clare 1-13
Camogie League Division 2A
Kerry 0-11 Laois 0-11
Derry 0-16 Carlow 0-12
Meath 2-9 Westmeath 1-6
Camogie League Division 3A
Roscommon P Kildare P,
Tyrone 3-14 Wicklow 3-6
Fitzgibbon Cup final
University Limerick 4-31 Mary Immaculate College 3-21
Sigerson Cup final
University Limerick 0-17 UCC 1-11.
