Down come back in second half to sink Donegal minor hurlers

A STRONG second-half performance by the visitors Down which saw them outscore Donegal by 2-11 to 0-5 sent them through to the semi-finals.

Donegal 2-10 Down 3-21   

A Caolan McDermott deflected goal in first-half injury time brought Donegal to within two points at the break but Down took control early in the second-half and despite some excellent saves by Ciaran Bradley ran out easy winners at the end.

Down raced to an 1-5 to 0-2 lead in the opening twenty minutes, corner forward Colin McPolin scored 0-03 with Daithi Sands kicking home their goal.

Stephen Anderson got Donegal’s opening two points in an overall haul of seven on the day and when Cian Randles cracked home a super goal there was just three points in it.

Down replied with three in a row, all frees from Conor Mc Crickard but back came Donegal with three of the own from Anderson (2) and Kevin Kealy, all from play.

Niall Fitzsimmons and Sands moved the lead out to five again but Mc Dermott’s goal left it 2-05 to 1-10 at the break.

Down showed intent at the start of the second-half and outscored Donegal by 1-4 to Anderson’s lone point for the home team.

Ciaran Bradley had denied Conor McCrickard with a brilliant save in the 35th minute and did the same in the 43rd to deny Sands but could do nothing to stop the follow up by Down subs Lorcan McCaughey whose shot hit the post or Ruairi McCrickard who batted the the rebound to the net to leave the score 2-13 to 2-06 in Down’s favour.

The teams exchanged four points in the next four minutes, Kealy and Ryan Hilferty for Donegal and Tom Murray and Philip Miskimmon for Down.

Any hopes of another Donegal comeback were ended in the 51th minute when Sands bust though and again Bradley saved brilliantly but could do nothing to stop Ruairi McCrickard’s follow up.

Stephen Anderson got Donegal’s final two scores while Down added five late points with Sands and Mc Caughey both scoring twice.

It was an impressive second-half performance by the visitors and while Donegal kept trying right to the end the scoring options available to Down proved too much on the day.

Scorers – Donegal: S Anderson 0-7, K Kealy 0-2,  R Hilferty 0-1, C Randles 1-0 , C McDermott 1-0.

Down: C McCrickard 0-6, D Sands 1-5, R McCrickard 2-0, C McPolin 0-3, L McCaughey 0-2, C Smyth 0-2, N Fitzsimmons 0-1, T Murray 0-1, P Miskimmon 0-1.

Donegal: Ciaran Bradley, Sean Halvey, Christopher Gallagher, Brian Diver; Cathair Doherty, Fiachra McLaughlin, James Monagle; Kevin Kealy, Ryan Hilferty; Caolan McDermott, Cathal Doherty, Stephen Anderson; Kieran Brady, Cian Randles, Chris Gallagher. Subs: Stephen Gallagher for C.Gallagher (52), Brian McHenry for Monagle (55), Peadar Conaghan for McDermott (60).

Down: Huw Flynn; Callum Smyth, Cathal Richie, Michael Napier; Michael McKey, Eoin Coulter, Donal Rooney; Niall Fitzsimons, Tom Murray; Chrissy Hynes, Daithi Sands, Philip Miskimmon; Conor McPolin, Conor McCrickard, Ryan Coulter. Subs: Ruairi McCrickard for Hynes (h-t), Lorcan McCaughey for Coulter (38), Daire Magorrian for Miskimmon (52), Daniel McCartan for McPolin (55), Conor McLarnan for R.McCrickard (55).

Referee: Aidan Ferguson.