Donegal see doors opening in front of them after stellar first-half performance sees them past Monaghan

All-Ireland SFC Group 4, Round 3: Donegal 0-19 Monaghan 0-17

It’s crazy to think this still wasn’t knock-out football. Aidan O’Rourke said afterwards there was “skin and hair flying” in the end, and the Donegal manager wasn’t entirely exaggerating.

Only a third win in their last 11 games, Saturday’s end result ultimately earns Donegal nothing more than home advantage for their preliminary quarter-final pairing next weekend – Derry’s victory over Clare ensuring they topped the group. In significance though it surely carries much more.

“We knew coming into the game, if we could get over the line here, it opened a few doors,” added O’Rourke, no doubt conscious of the background noise around Donegal too. “I think we were more switched on today and aware, and I thought we helped each other out more in defence.

“We knew our preparation was good, we were coming to the boil nicely, with a lot of players coming into form, getting better. It gave us a bit of momentum and gives us a wee injection of belief that we are able to compete with the best.”

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For Monaghan it’s into the mystic of Monday’s draw and the whereabouts of their preliminary quarter-final. Finishing within two points of Donegal, they won’t feel too far off, even if at some stages of this game they were.

When, five minutes into the second half, Oisín Gallen broke free of Ryan O’Toole and scored his second dazzling point from play, Donegal were up by six, 0-15 to 0-9, and deservedly so. Their lot dried up a little after that, Jack McCarron bringing Monaghan closer with a series of placed kicks as things got pretty hectic.

Conor O’Donnell summed it up in one move, the Donegal forward sprinting 60 metres towards the Monaghan goal after Rory Beggan was caught well out the field before O’Donnell fired between the posts.

Donegal goalkeeper Shaun Patton, impressive all evening with his rangy kick-outs, in the end kicked one of the most important scores, his monster free as the clock spilled into six minutes of injury time calming their nerves, Monaghan’s last response a free from replacement Conor McManus.

“Listen, it was hectic with 10 minutes to go,” said O’Rourke. “There was skin and hair flying, people were making poor decisions on both sides.

“Ultimately, they made enough good decisions to win the game. I thought their composure was good, some of the older players really stepped up in terms of managing the ball in those key moments.

“I think the start to the second half was going to be very, very important to us. We were focused on that. We probably let a couple go, but I felt we controlled that period well and took opportunities presented and that made it more difficult for Monaghan and made them chase the game.”

O’Rourke had listed his captain Paddy McBrearty to start, only Odhrán Doherty took to the field instead, reflecting it seemed a defensive mindset. Indeed both teams appeared content and intent on keeping 14 men behind the ball wherever possible, only it certainly didn’t play out defensively for very long, space surprisingly beckoning at both ends.

Amazingly there were 22 scores by half-time, 18 of those coming from play, with Donegal starting to pull away in the second quarter and enjoying a four-point advantage at the break.

The excellent O’Donnell got Donegal off the mark first, injecting some real pace before splitting the posts, before Michael Bannigan levelled it for Monaghan. They’d be level five times in the first 15 minutes and during that period every point came from play, eight in opening 10 minutes alone. Daire Ó Baoill was in brilliant form, striking three from play in the first half, his second squaring things up again at 0-5 apiece.

That was the start of four points without reply from Donegal – O’Donnell’s second, Doherty, plus a Ciarán Thompson free, pressing them three in front – before Ryan McAnespie got to reply for Monaghan. When Gallen, razor sharp in the second-round loss to Derry, finally found some space of his own on 26 minutes he made no mistake and Donegal were three clear again.

McCarron was getting similarly guarded attention from Brendan McCole, who put in a considerable defensive shift, among his best in a Donegal jersey.

McManus, after starting his third successive game on the bench, was called in on 43 minutes, before McCarron’s neat run of scores got it back to a three-point game. With that half-time advantage, however, Donegal would not be denied.

O’Rourke wasn’t overplaying the Ballybofey advantage next weekend: “It doesn’t automatically kick points for you or anything like that. I’m sure whoever’s coming won’t savour it, but ultimately it’s a patch of green grass with a football match to be played on it.

“There are a lot of good footballers in that team and squad and a few more who didn’t get a chance to show what they can do today. Ultimately, if you want to achieve anything at this level, it has to be a collective effort. One thing’s for sure, you couldn’t question their character or work rate or application. I thought they were superb.”

DONEGAL: 1 Shaun Patton (0-1, a free); 2 Mark Curran, 3 Brendan McCole, 4 Caolan McColgan; 5 Caolan Ward, 6 Eoghan Ban Gallagher, 7 Stephen McMenamin; 8 Caolan McGonagle (0-1), 9 Hugh McFadden; 10 Daire Ó Baoill (0-3), 11 Jamie Brennan (0-2, one free), 12 Ciarán Thompson (0-3, one free); 18 Odhrán Doherty (0-1), 14 Oisín Gallen (0-5, three frees), 15 Conor O’Donnell (0-3).

Subs: 20 John Ross Molloy for Ward (47 mins), 13 Paddy McBrearty for Gallen (56), 25 Rory O’Donnell for Ó Baoill (60), 26 Paul Brennan for O Doherty (69).

MONAGHAN: 1 Rory Beggan; 2 Ryan O’Toole, 3 Kieran Duffy, 4 Ryan Wylie; 5 Karl O’Connell, 6 Conor Boyle (0-2), 7 Conor McCarthy; 8 Karl Gallagher, 9 Killian Lavelle; 10 Stephen O’Hanlon (0-1, one free), 11 Michael Bannigan (0-2), 12 Ryan McAnespie (0-1); 13 Jack McCarron (0-5, three frees, one mark), 14 Gary Mohan (0-3, one mark), 20 Darren Hughes (0-2).

Subs: 18 Conor McManus (0-1, a free) for Gallagher (43 mins), 15 Shane Carey for Lavelle (47), 17 Kieran Hughes for D Hughes (57), 26 Colm Lennon for O’Connell (62), 25 Francie Hughes for McCarron (67)

Referee: Liam Devenney (Mayo)