Michael Murphy nailed a free in added time to earn Donegal a deserved draw against Dublin on a day when records were preserved in Ballybofey.
Donegal 2-5 Dublin 1-8
Murphy’s free, in the 72nd minute, earned Donegal a point that could prove to be priceless in the battle to avoid Division One’s relegation quicksand in the coming weeks.
Niall Scully’s goal on 54 minutes looked to be sending the Dubs on their way to a win, but Donegal ground out a draw in difficult conditions.
Dublin called for the heavy weapons of Paul Flynn, Michael Darragh Macauley and Kevin McManamon off the bench in the second half and they were set for the win, until Murphy converted a free after a foul on Eamonn Doherty.
The draw stretches Dublin’s unbeaten run to 32 League and Championship games while Donegal now haven’t lost at MacCumhaill park in a 16-match sequence in those competitions going back to 2010.
Two goals in a minute by Jason McGee and Ryan McHugh turned the tables in Donegal’s favour late in the first half.
The Tir Chonaill men were 52 minutes without a score across two periods in both halves – 25 minutes in the first and 27 in the second – but they more than earned a share of the spoils.
Donegal scored just two points in the opening half-an-hour, but found themselves with a 2-2 to 0-5 lead at the break.
Midfielder McGee fired home on 33 minutes and, with Dublin rocked, McHugh finished for his fifth career goal against the Dubs.
McGee tucked home after a passage of play that began with Frank McGlynn making the initial incision.
McGlynn fed McGee, whose tame first shot was kept out by Stephen Cluxton. McGee played across goal and it broke from Martin O’Reilly to Jamie Brennan, who scuffed a shot, only for McGee to steer home.
Seconds later, after Donegal won possession from the kick-out, Brennan fed McHugh to net Donegal’s second, sending Donegal into a scarcely-deserved interval lead.
Darach O’Connor had been named to start, but there was no place for the Buncrana man, with McGlynn coming into the team.
O’Connor continues his recovery from a cruciate injury and still awaits a first Donegal start since the 2014 All-Ireland final against Kerry.
McGlynn was in for Patrick McBrearty, unable to play because of the groin injury sustained in the win over Roscommon.
On a week when Donegal bid a fond and emotional farewell to Neil Gallagher, following confirmation of his injury-enforced retirement on Monday, it was fitting that McGee – one of the new midfielders in the class – kick-started the scoring here.
McGee hoofed over after 30 seconds, but Donegal were soon in defensive mode and Dublin began to take a grip of things.
Shane Carthy leveled things up for the Dubs in the third minute and Dean Rock, moments after pulling a ’45 wide, stroked over a free won by Eoghan O’Gara.
Ciaran Kilkenny and Conor McHugh – who had been booked for an earlier wrestle with Paddy McGrath – put Dublin 0-4 to 0-1 ahead and Donegal were finding holes hard to find.
Jamie Brennan, who cut a lone figure close to the Dublin goal, dropped one long-range effort short and Neil McGee was perhaps the wrong man in the right place when he shot at Cluxton.
In his pre-match press conference, Rory Gallagher, the Donegal manager, advised that his team would adopt a rather more defensive outlook than they had done in the first fortnight of the spring.
After conceding two goals against both Kerry and Roscommon, Gallagher attempted to bring the shutters down against the Dubs.
“Any team that plays Dublin end up defending quite a bit,” Gallagher offered during the week.
“We have to adapt on different days…we have conceded too much and we rode our luck. Teams have got in too easy for our liking.”
Ciaran Thompson, with a neat free, landed Donegal’s first point in 25 minutes and it was a three-point game, with Niall Scully on the mark seconds earlier at the other end.
However, the pendulum swung Donegal’s way with those two goals in the last two minutes of the half.
Murphy’s free put Donegal four in front early in the second half, but
Scully’s goal had Dublin ahead again.
The second half was following the pattern of the first, with Donegal not managing to add to their tally between the 39th and 66th minutes.
Thompson’s free set up a grandstand finish and Murphy had the final say with the free. Donegal had possession as the clocked ticked deep into the added period, but Branagan’s final shrill of the whistle will contented both camps.
Scorers for Donegal: J McGee 1-1, R McHugh 1-0, C Thompson, M Murphy 0-2f each
Scorers for Dublin: N Scully 1-1, D Rock 0-3 (3f), S Carthy, C Reddin, C Kilkenny, D Byrne 0-1 each
Donegal: Mark Anthony McGinley; Paddy McGrath, Neil McGee, Eoghan Ban Gallagher; Ryan McHugh, Caolan Ward, Paul Brennan; Jason McGee, Michael Murphy; Frank McGlynn, Micheál Carroll, Martin O’Reilly; Eoin McHugh, Jamie Brennan, Ciaran Thompson. Subs: Hugh McFadden for J.Brennan (40), Darach O’Connor for P.Brennan (45), Eamonn Doherty for Carroll (57), Stephen McBrearty for E.McHugh (63).
Dublin: Stephen Cluxton; Philip McMahon, Mchael Fitzsimons, Eric Lowndes; Darren Daly, John Small, Jack McCaffrey; Brian Fenton, Ciaran Reddin; Niall Scully, Ciaran Kilkenny, Shane Carthy; Dean Rock, Eoghan O’Gara, Conor McHugh. Subs: Paul Flynn for Carthy (42), Michael Darragh Macauley for Reddin (42), Kevin McManamon for O’Gara (44), David Byrne for McCaffrey (57), Jason Whelan for McHugh (62), Emmet Ó Conghaile for Daly (69)
Referee: Ciaran Branagan (Down).
