The exit from the pitch in MacCumhaill Park is strange. A short, narrow tunnel leads out to a dusty road where the broadcast vans are parked, and from there the players make their away among the crowd to the changing rooms. Michael Hegarty must have been the first person to leave the field, escaping the hot sun and a breathtaking game to consider what had just passed.

"That was tight," the Kilcar man said in the blessed cool under the old terrace.

That was the word for it. After an absorbing game, a practically unknown Donegal team made an instant impression on the Ballybofey crowd, providing thrills and spills against Down, Ulster's aristocracy who have had something of an Indian sign over Donegal down the years.

"We would need to get the parish priest in here to bless those goals because we just couldn't score into them," marvelled manager Brian McIver out on the field later.

This win was quite a coup for the Tyrone man, who found during the league the football scene in Donegal is sometimes good and sometimes bad but never dull. Following Brian McEniff was never going to be easy and an adventurous selection had provoked much puzzled debate in the county. This exciting victory was a vindication.

"The media has been fairly hard on this Donegal team over the last couple of years but they're a good bunch of lads," he said.

"There was a lot of talk about the team but people wouldn't see who was going well in training as we've been doing. And that is the basis on which the team was picked. And it was great for us to be able to bring in a forward of Aidy Sweeney's quality. That was a huge score he kicked for us there at the end. And Damien Diver's calm and experience was vital."

It will be remembered as a day Rory Kavanagh cut loose for 1-2 from play, scoring one of the goals of the year. Kavanagh, though, is hardly an overnight sensation,

"Yeah, I suppose I am around four years or so and that was my first full championship start," he mused.

"It's been great that Brian has shown faith in the younger players and hopefully that was repaid a bit out there today . . . this was a big game for us and, thank God, we were able to come out with a win.

"For the goal, I just remember Michael Hegarty gave a ball to Bonner and I was coming through on his shoulder and Ciarápopped a pass for me. Things just opened up for me and I decided to go for it."

That goal brought about a disastrous spell for Down and afterwards Paddy O'Rourke stood in the heat and dust to ponder another savagely cruel Ulster experience.

"The second half . . . Barry Dunnion got on the ball and he was causing us a lot of difficulty. And the game started to slip away from us. We panicked a wee bit too."

It was not a vintage Down performance but it was brave and the finish was torturous, with the excellent Daniel Hughes left to attempt an extremely difficult free from near the right sideline. A minute earlier, O'Rourke had elected to substitute Liam Doyle, a natural left-footer who had just landed a free to put Down within one.

"I made the call to take Liam off and it was the wrong call," O'Rourke confessed bravely. "I have to live with that and I will pick myself up and move on . . . I still think we can have a good summer." In Donegal, it is already better than many anticipated.