Dominant Donegal sink Tyrone in U20 Final

Donegal 2-10

Tyrone 1-6

DONEGAL Under 20s continued their fine league form to make it four wins from four after they downed old foes Tyrone by seven points in Saturday’s Leo Murphy Cup decider.

With a midweek venue coin toss falling in Gary Duffy’s side’s favour, Letterkenny played host to this latest instalment of the Tír Chonaill and Red Hand rivalry.

However, we were never really treated to a real ‘edge of your seat’ period in O’Donnell Park and it was the hosts that grabbed this one by the scruff of the neck, almost from the off.

A Tyrone goal just past the midpoint of the first period meant they did go in just two points drift of the leaders but it wasn’t an accurate reflection of the direction of that first-half traffic.

The visitors threatened to show their real worth at the start of the second period but Donegal soon got a handle on that. And a purple patch of four points on the bounce, at the outset of the fourth and final quarter, put paid to any hopes Tyrone might still have harboured of pulling this one back their direction as Donegal went 1-10 to 1-3 clear.

Big substitute Bobby McGettigan rounded off his side’s day in fine fashion late on as he added a second three-pointer for Donegal – who were convincing winners on the day.

The home side had opened in purposeful fashion and inside the first quarter, had already confidently kicked themselves four to the good. Johnny McGroddy was at the fulcrum of all that was impressive for the hosts inside that same period – both from play and from placed balls.

Eric Carr kicked the contest’s first point, from a mark, inside the first minute. And soon after, a dinked ball inside to David Boyle from McGroddy presented the latter with the routine chance, from a free, to open his account from close range.

The same player added a second on nine minutes, again from a free from the hands. Donegal kicked a fourth free uninterrupted on 14 minutes as McGroddy found the mark for a third time on the bounce.

The visitors finally gave a glimpse of what they were capable of offering when Michael McGleenan drove in from the left and just missed the bottom right hand corner of Daithí Roberts’ net.

That warning wasn’t heeded however, by Duffy’s lads, and soon after the same player again found joy down that same spacious channel. This time out, with Ciaran Bogue offering an option to his right, the lay off was perfectly timed and, in one instant, Tyrone were back to just a single point off the coattails of the leaders.

On 20 minutes, a careless touch on the ground near his own goal by Ciarán Daly offered the cheapest of chances for McGroddy to increase both his and his team’s tally.

0-5 to 1-0 in arrears, Sean O’Donnell should have done better from a free near the Donegal posts. Still, the dropped short effort had to be dealt with by the Donegal defence and Sean Doherty, at full-back, did very well to divert the danger.

O’Donnell made an immediate amends when he then drilled a superb point from distance to cut the gap back to one. But Donegal made sure they went in at the break with a two-point lead thanks to an equally impressive effort from Carr, his second of the game, as Donegal held a 0-6 to 1-1 lead at the interval.

Donegal began the second-half in spectacular fashion as Kealan Dunleavy rattled the back of the net. But Tyrone, to their credit, steadied themselves and two quick-fire overs from David Boyle (free) and Ciaran Moore, with a real cracker, to leave it 1-6 to 1-3.

The next score had the potential to swing this clash one way or the other but the manner in which the chance was presented to Donegal, to fend off what was looking like a resurgent Tyrone, was most unfortunate. Brian Conway did so well at full back to get out in front of McGettigan inside as Donegal looked to source their full forward.

However, Conway seemed to touch the ball on the ground just as he lost his footing and a simple chance was given to McGroddy to clip Donegal back out to a four-point lead. Pressing high up on Henry Morgan’s kickouts, Dunleavy had real joy and it was he that managed to get on the end of that turnover and make it 1-8 to 1-3.

Oisin Crawford added another as Donegal began to turn the screw. With Tyrone now chasing a five-point deficit, their determination to to bridge that gap was inadvertently playing into Donegal hands. And they were once again hit on the counter when Eoin Dowling, Ryan McShane and Carr all combined to send Carr in for his third on 54 minutes.

The visitors refused to throw in the towel, however, and they would rally to post two more points through replacement Cormac Devlin and Ruairi Canavan (free).

But the last say of the day went to McGettigan as he worked a fine ‘give-and-go’ with Luke McGlynn before crashing in Donegal’s second three-pointer.

Conway did well to get up the field late on to lift one more white flag for Tyrone but, at that stage, it was far too little and far too late.