Dublin 0-20
Donegal 1-20
Donegal got their Allianz National League Division 1 campaign off to a winning start courtesy of a win over Dublin at Croke Park on Saturday.
The reigning Ulster champions led the contest by six points at the interval and they managed to hold on in the second stanza to seal the two league points.
Donegal got the evening’s opening score, with Ryan McHugh firing over a great point after two minutes of play.
The hosts soon got off the mark as Con O’Callaghan fired over a great effort from outside the arc before converting a 45′ shortly afterwards.
The visitors quickly regained the advantage as goalkeeper Gavin Mulreany came up to fire over two successive two-pointed frees.
Dublin’s Nathan Doran and Donegal’s Conor O’Donnell exchanged the next two scores before Con O’Callaghan landed a two-pointed free for the home side to leave us all square after 24 minutes.
However, Donegal finished Act One on the front foot by kicking 1-3 without reply. Conor O’Donnell, Shane O’Donnell and Finnbarr Roarty found white flags while Shea Malone fired home a major to leave them six ahead at the break.
Ger Brennan’s side made a fast start to the second stanza, outscoring their opponents 0-5-0-1 courtesy of scores from Luke Breathnach (2), Con O’Callaghan, Paddy Small and Nathan Doran, with Jason McGee finding the target for Donegal.
However, Jim McGuinness’s men’s six-point interval advantage was soon restored as Michael Langan found two successive orange flags for his team.
The Dubs landed the contest’s next two scores through Luke Breathnach and Con O’Callaghan but Donegal hit back with three of their own, all coming from the boot of Daire Ó Baoill (one-two-pointer).
Michael Langan soon landed another for Donegal but the hosts continued to battle and slotted over four points in-a-row through Con O’Callaghan (free), Conor Tyrell, Paddy Small and Sean Bugler to reduced the arrears to four entering the closing ten minutes.
The next four scores were shared, with Michael Langan (free) and Caolan McGonagle pointing for Donegal while Conor Tyrell and Luke Breathnach found white flags for the home side.
Breathnach found the target again late on to cut the defecit to three however, it would be as close as they’d manage to get as the hooter sounded at GAA HQ to seal victory for Jim McGuinness’s outfit.
