RORY GALLAGHER WAS disappointed that Donegal didn’t hold onto their lead against Monaghan on Saturday night in Cavan.
Donegal came back from the brink themselves as Odhrán Mac Niallais’ goal helped them lead 1-10 to 0-11 with normal time up.
McManus levelled with two frees before Christy Toye fisted over and it looked game over, only for Donegal to gift McManus a final chance, which he grabbed with ease.
[adrotate group=”43″]“We’d be disappointed we didn’t see it out, there’s no doubt about that,” Gallagher said.
“We were in a good enough position. Monaghan worked a few frees, whether they were frees or not.”
Donegal battled with 14 men for the last 15 minutes after Martin McElhinney was black carded, having been booked earlier in the game. His dismissal seemed to galvanise Donegal, like the sending off of Neil McGee had against Fermanagh a fortnight earlier.
[adrotate group=”53″]“I suppose their backs are to the wall and to be fair I thought we showed great heart and character,” Gallagher said.
“We were disappointed to lose Martin although we could argue with the black card and indeed the yellow earlier on.
“But we responded really well with the goal. We should have had a goal (when) we started the start of the second half well.
“Young Kieran (Gillespie), with the three on his back was probably the reason he didn’t finish it. We started the second half well, got a number of scores but overall I just thought we battled and battled as did Monaghan.”
[adrotate group=”46″]When Eamon McGee popped the ball out to Toye and he fisted over, Donegal were looking good for the win. That was with four minutes of added time played, but there was a twist as Anthony Thompson fouled and McManus converted.
Gallagher said: “We were under serious pressure out there, Monaghan were in the ascendancy and players were maybe not making the decisions they could have. That’s what happened.”
Donegal began well with Karl Lacey setting a marker with a point after 13 seconds, but it was tit-for-tat for the most part.
Gallagher said: “I was happy with the way we started but Monaghan are always going to come at you. We have had so many games with them it’s going to be very hard to get a four or five point lead as it is for them but you always look for a big start.
[adrotate group=”37″]“The most positive thing from our point of view was we looked like scoring goals a couple of times.”
Championship debutant Kieran Gillespie was denied a goal by Rory Beggan, the Monaghan goalkeeper, while Patrick McBrearty had to settle for a point when he might have rattled the net.
Stalemate means another chapter for this great and gripping rivalry.
Gallagher said: “It’s a massive prize to get to an Ulster final. We were battling hard to get to our sixth in a row and we never got anything easy. We have to fight for everything.”
