Donegal 1-17
Galway 0-20
Donegal and Galway were inseparable at full-time at Father Tierney Park on Sunday afternoon, playing out a dramatic 1-17-0-20 draw in front of a packed crowd.
Jim McGuinness’s side trailed by six points in the early stages of the second stanza but they showed great charachter to battle back and earn a point.
The opening quarter of this encounter was evenly poised, with the two sides sharing the first eight points.
Jamie Brennan (2), Michael Langan and Conor O’Donnell got the scores for the hosts while Robert Finnerty, Matthew Tierney, Liam O Conghaile and Cian Hernon pointed for the Connacht side.
Robert Finnerty soon kicked his second of the afternoon to put Galway ahead however, Donegal responded with a superb major from the in-form Conor O’Donnell.
This was quickly followed up by a fine two-pointed free from Gavin Mulreany to push the hosts advantage out to four points.
Conor O’Donnell and Oisin Mac Donnacha (free) traded efforts before Padraic Joyce’s men kicked five successive scores through Mac Donnacha (3), O Conghaille and Tierney to lead by three at the break.
Galway commenced the second stanza in a similar fashion to how they concluded the first, landing the first three scores.
Ten minutes into Act Two, Donegal were reduced to 14 men as Stephen McMenamin was shown a second yellow card by Barry Cassidy.
However, the home side continued to battle and kicked back-to-back points through Michael Murphy and Michael Langan to close the deficit to four.
The next six scores were exchanged three-apiece, with Jason McGee (2) and Finnbarr Roarty finding the target for the home side in this period.
Jim McGuinness’s side, with the home support behind them, closed the gap to the minimum as Michael Murphy (2) and Peadar Mogan found white flags to leave us with a tense closing ten minutes.
With three minutes left on the clock, Padraic Joyce’s outfit extended their cushion to two points through a fisted effort from Ciaran Mulhearn.
However, there was late drama as Peadar Mogan stepped up to slot over a superb score from outside the arc with a minute remaining to secure his side a draw.
