Donegal toil as Michael Murphy shows mettle

Meath 1-14 Donegal 1-15

In the steamy, soupy swelter of a July Saturday night, we walked out of Navan with the game stuck to us like a cheap T-shirt. Donegal were better than Meath by the odd inch in a mile of toil and had Patrick McBrearty’s injury-time winner from 48 metres to thank for their progress. It to put a full-stop on a game we all presumed had a bit more dash in in yet. Nobody would have been wronged by a bout of extra-time.

This was raw stuff, a clash of two sides who are fair bit down the queue in terms of quality. What made it worth watching was the fact that they’re in or around the same spot in that queue.

There were long spells when neither side could get out of their own way. They were continually suffocated by indecision, stifled by inaction. And yet, the struggle to outstrip their myriad limitations made it a thoroughly compelling evening.

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The teams were level 11 times over the 70 and on the only occasion one of them built up a three-point lead, Ryan McHugh’s 61st-minute goal was cancelled by Cillian O’Sullivan’s in the 62nd. The longer it went on, the clearer it became that Donegal and Meath could play each other 10 times and end up level on aggregate.

The only problem would be getting anybody to referee the games. Derek O’Mahony must have driven home on Saturday wondering why he bothers with this stuff anymore. Like any referee, he didn’t have a spotless night. Donegal had a goal disallowed in the first half that will take a bit of video work to divine the rights and wrong of the square ball call. Meath missed out on a handful of reasonably obvious frees in the closing quarter.

Struggles

But Meath and Donegal had many reasons for struggling to win this game and by no objective analysis was the referee in the top five of either team’s list. And yet he trooped off at the end of both halves getting a flea in his ear – from Rory Gallagher and the Donegal players at half-time and Andy McEntee and various cranky Meath heads at full-time. What a rotten job being a GAA referee is.

Given the result, it was probably no surprise that Gallagher was the more understanding of the pair in his post-match comments. “Look, refereeing is a hard job,” the Donegal manager said. “Those things happen. I try refereeing the training matches and I don’t come off with a good rating from the players. We have to live with it. If we’d have taken our chances, we wouldn’t be talking about the referee at all.”

McEntee was outraged at the end at a non-award for a free after McBrearty’s point. Donal Lenihan hadn’t missed a free all day and this would surely have sent the game to extra-time.

“It’s a kind of hard to know what is an isn’t a free anymore,” said McEntee. “You look at the amount of Donegal scores where one of our lads gets body checked attempting to block somebody. That’s brought to the referee’s attention and he does nothing about it. They’re a little bit more concerned about where I stand on the sideline than making good decision on the pitch.

“Maybe I’m wrong – maybe I’m looking at this through green-coloured glasses. But it certainly seemed to influence the referee. Certain players got away with a number of tackles that I would consider a free and we seemed to be punished a little more regularly. As I say, maybe I’m just looking through the Meath lens.”

Reader, he is.

As for the game, the sides reached half-time level at 0-7 to 0-7 and continued their untidy tango all the way to the end. Michael Murphy was astonishing throughout. When no Donegal player wanted to shoot in the first half, he took it on. When they resolved to be a bit more adventurous in the second, he was the one who always saw a way to switch the play. He finished the game with five points (two from play) and had a hand in the same amount again.

Big score

You felt a goal would be a big score. But when it came, Donegal had no sooner put it on the board than they conceded its twin at the other end. For Ryan McHugh, see Cillian O’Sullivan. Both goals came from running moves, each side finding space for an extra handpass in amongst the thickets of defenders.

Pauric Harnan nearly scored the Meath one but his shot was smothered by Mark Anthony McGinley. O’Sullivan nailed the rebound to make it 1-12 to 1-12.

From there, it was a matter of who could hold their nerve. Murphy swapped points with the excellent Bryan Menton, McBrearty swapped frees with Lenihan. Tick-tock, tick-tock. Extra-time a certainty.

Until it wasn’t. McBrearty landed his monster after good work from Ryan McHugh and Donegal were home.

MEATH: Paddy O'Rourke; Donal Keogan (0-1), Conor McGill, Mickey Burke; Pádraic Harnan, Brian Power, Shane McEntee (0-1); Bryan Menton (0-1), Brian Conlon; James McEntee (0-1), Cillian O'Sullivan (1-1), Graham Reilly (0-1); Ruairí Ó Coileáin (0-1), Seán Tobin, Donal Lenihan (0-7, all frees).

Subs: Mickey Newman for Tobin (half-time); Donnnacha Tobin for S McEntee (61 mins); Eamon Wallace for O’Sullivan (b/c, 66 mins).

DONEGAL: Mark Anthony McGinley; Paddy McGrath, Neil McGee, Caolán Ward; Ryan McHugh (1-0), Frank McGlynn (0-1), Eoghan Bán Gallagher; Jason McGee (0-2), Ciarán Thompson; Kieran Gillespie, Martin O'Reilly, Eoin McHugh; Patrick McBrearty (0-7, three frees), Michael Murphy (0-5, two frees), Hugh McFadden.

Subs: Martin McIlhinney for Thompson (43 mins); Jamie Brennan for McFadden (48 mins); Karl Lacey for O’Reilly (58 mins); Mark McHugh for McGlynn (60 mins).

Referee: Derek O'Mahony (Tipperary).