First blood to Mickey Harte as Derry make short work of Donegal in McKenna Cup final

Derry 0-12 Donegal 0-6

Mickey Harte’s love for a pre-season trophy would survive an earthquake, a tsunami and a plague of locusts. This six-point win in Omagh makes it 13 McKenna Cups in his 22-season career. Throw in the O’Byrne Cup final he managed Louth last January and truly, there is nobody who cares more about the thing that nobody cares about than he.

This one drew a crowd of 4,825 on the sort of cold, wet night you’d question anyone’s sanity for venturing out in. But there was, of course, the extra frisson here – it was Harte’s first time standing on the same sideline as Jim McGuinness since January 2014, when Tyrone and Donegal met in the first game of that year’s pre-season kickabout. Harte came out on top that day too, albeit it was McGuinness’s team who ended that year in the All-Ireland final.

“He was very magnanimous at the end,” said Harte of the Donegal manager afterwards. “He said he was looking forward to a later event and I said, ‘Aye, it will be coming pretty quickly.’ I have always admired what he has done. With his insight into Gaelic games, he adds a lot to the game.

“You can see already that he has brought this Donegal team on to a very competitive level. They outworked us in the first half and maybe, hopefully, that took a bit out of them and we were able to work better in the second half.”

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Oceans have flowed under the bridge in the decade since the two men last met and the terms of engagement, for now at least, are fairly clear. Derry won this final with no great amount of fuss, even though they were without the Glen contingent, gone on club final duty in Croke Park. Shane McGuigan put in a pristine night of free-taking and Harte’s side generally dealt with the rotten conditions much better.

The swirling wind and greasy ball meant that both teams basically dug a trench inside their own 45 and beckoned the other on, with the intention of hitting them on the break. Derry are so grooved into this style of play now that they can do it by muscle memory almost. Even with a smattering of newish faces around the place, they were still reasonably comfortable throughout.

That said, their 0-5 to 0-3 half-time lead was poor value for the gale they had at their back. Four McGuigan frees and a fine score from play by Declan Cassidy was all they had to show for a half where they dominated but kicked six wides and dropped a couple short. When Patrick McBrearty tapped over a 20-metre free with the last kick of the half to send Donegal in just a couple of points down, McGuinness felt his side were in the box seat.

He wasn’t alone. We all presumed that Donegal would explode from the blocks and make use of the wind but instead it was Derry who came out to confound it. They kicked the first three points after the restart through Paul Cassidy, Niall Toner and another classy McGuigan free. Daire Ó Baoill came off the bench for Donegal on 49 minutes and his spectacular point from out on the right brought the margin back to four.

Then came the night’s only real flashpoint. Brendan Rogers caught a kick-out and drew a foul but then got a straight red for a stamp on Ó Baoill. It looked harmless enough – in all probability accidental – but referee Conor Curran was five yards away and immediately made up his mind to give Rogers the line.

But any advantage Donegal might have had down the stretch was wiped out by the ensuing shemozzle. As players poured in from both sides, there was an extended scufflefest which ultimately saw Patrick McBrearty sent off for contributing to a melee. McGuinness told his players afterwards that it was a moment they needed to learn from.

“We were in a situation where we had a very stiff breeze at our back. We were a man up. We were able to get a press on their goalkeeper. We would have been in a situation where you could pull the trigger from anywhere and you’d be pressing up on a goalkeeper with an extra man.

“So it would have been a great situation to be in with 20 minutes to go, chasing the game. You’re thinking about that but then, 20 seconds later, you’re going, ‘No, this thing has flipped again.’ The psychology of it is very strong and that’s a big lesson for us.”

So even though Donegal goalie Gavin Mulreany immediately landed a monster free to bring them back within three points, Derry knuckled down and saw it out easily enough.

First blood to Harte. Plenty more to be spilled, all the same.

DERRY: Odhrán Lynch; Diarmuid Baker, Eoin McEvoy, Chrissy McKaigue; Conor McCluskey, Gareth McKinless, Pádraig McGrogan; Conor Doherty (0-1), Brendan Rogers; Donncha Gilmore, Declan Cassidy (0-1), Paul Cassidy (0-1); Niall Loughlin (0-1), Shane McGuigan (0-6, six frees), Cormac Murphy (0-1).

Subs: Niall Toner (0-1) for McEvoy (h-t); Shea Downey for McCluskey (69 mins).

DONEGAL: Gavin Mulreany (0-2, two frees); Mark Curran, Domhnall MacGiolla Bhride, Kevin McGettigan; Ryan McHugh (0-1), Caolan McGonagle, Peadar Mogan; Oisín Caulfield, Ciarán Thompson (0-1); Odhrán Doherty, Shane O’Donnell, Ciarán Moore; Patrick McBrearty (0-1, free), Oisín Gallen, Jamie Brennan.

Subs: Daire Ó Baoill (0-1) for Caulfield (48 mins); Ronan Frain for Brennan (53); Jeac Mac Ceallbhaí for Doherty, Luke McFlynn for O’Donnell (both 58); Stephen McMenamin for Curran (59).

Referee: Conor Curran (Down).

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