Dáire Ó Baoill of Donegal watches his kick go over for a two point score during the Ulster GAA Football Senior Championship preliminary round match between Donegal and Derry at MacCumhaill Park in Ballybofey, Donegal. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile.
Ulster Senior Football Championship Preliminary Round
DONEGAL 1-25 DERRY1-15
By Chris McNulty at Sean MacCumhaill Park
Daire Ó Baoill’s goal late in the first half helped propel Donegal past Derry and into the Ulster SFC quarter-finals.
Ó Baoill hit 1-4 in the opening period and captain Patrick McBrearty posted seven points as Jim McGuinness’s side had 10 points to spare.
A crowd of 15,023 heaved into Sean MacCumhaill Park as Donegal proved too strong for their derby rivals.
Shaun Patton saved a Shane McGuigan penalty in the ninth minute before Donegal took control with Ó Baoill and McBrearty inflicting the bulk of the wounds.
This was McGuinness’s 15th Championship or League match as Donegal manager at Sean MacCumhaill Park and they have now won 12 and drawn three.
Trailing by six, 0-11 to 0-5, Derry were handed a glimmer when midfielder Dan Higgins goaled in the 32nd minute. Ethan Doherty and Brendan Rogers did some of the spadework and the latter off-loaded to midfielder Higgins who fired past Shaun Patton to the bottom corner.
However, Donegal hit back with Conor O’Donnell pointing before Ó Baoill, scorer of two goals in last year’s clash of these sides, ruthlessly tore through the Derry heart to fire home a goal for the hosts.
Ó Baoill - who has played senior football with Finn Harps and 10 years ago captained a Republic of Ireland U15 squad that also contained Jason McGee - is a real goal threat and he made no mistake with a powerful finish to give Neil McNicholl no chance of a save.
Ó Baoill boomed over a pair of two-pointers in a storming end to the first half, Donegal out-scoring Derry 1-7 to 1-0 in the final seven minutes. As they headed down the tunnel, Donegal led 1-12 to 1-5.
Late appointment Paddy Tally has attempted to thwart the wither of the Oak Leaf, but Derry shipped 18 goals during a League campaign that saw their toes tagged for a return to Division 2.
Shorn the likes of Anton Tohill, Conor McCluskey and Gareth McKinless, Tally handed maiden Ulster SFC appearances to goalkeeper McNicholl, Marty Bradley and Higgins, but the appearances of Rogers, Ciaran McFaul and Murray, who were all doubts beforehand, came as a significant boost for the Sperrins.
Two pointers from Rogers and Conor Doherty - whose father, Neil, hails from Derriscleigh, Glen in Donegal - helped Derry chip away at the deficit, down to two with barely five minutes of the second half played.
Michael Murphy was elevated to start - his first Championship appearance since a qualifier loss to Armagh almost three years ago in June, 2022 - with McBrearty and Odhran McFadden-Ferry also included as McGuinness made three changes to the XV published on Friday.
During that key spell in the third quarter, McBrearty did the bulk of the damage to quell Derry’s fightback.
Accompanied by a bite-bearing breeze, a summer sun screamed down on the Finn as the north west rivals met for a fifth successive year in the Championship, Donegal winning in 2021 and 2024 with Derry taking the spoils in 2023 and the 2022 Ulster final after extra time.
Derry began with a good purpose and, after some early back-and-forth, Padraig McGrogan slammed over the game’s opening point in the fourth minute.
Two in a minute by Conor O’Donnell and Ryan McHugh turned the tables before Derry were awarded a penalty when Hugh McFadden fouled Shane McGuigan. Patton got down well to his right to save McGuigan’s effort and got in the way of the rebound with Donegal able to clear.
Finnbarr Roarty, the sole championship debutant in the Donegal side, brilliantly blocked from Ethan Doherty during the busy early passage.
In between a fisted score by Lachlan Murray, Shane O’Donnell and Ciaran Moore pointed for the home side, but the nerves whistled a little when Niall Toner was allowed get a shot away and lobbed wide at the Town End.
The sides entered here in marked contrast to their Ulster quarter-final meeting a year ago. Derry were ranked as serious All-Ireland contenders having won Division 1 and were the reigning Ulster champions at the time, but Donegal ambushed them with a four-goal salvo, winning 4-11 to 0-17 at Celtic Park - kick-starting a march to provincial glory and an All-Ireland semi-final.
Ó Baoill arrowed over the black spot from the right-hand side, to put Donegal two ahead in the 27th minute.
After close-range frees by Murphy and McBrearty, Ó Baoill repeated the trick, only for Higgins’ goal to take the sting out of the home side - but only momentarily as Ó Baoill rattled the net down the other end just moments later to give Donegal a seven-point lead at the changeover.
Derry had a purple patch in the opening five minutes of part two, but in the space of the next seven Donegal hit seven points, three of them by McBrearty with Roarty also in on the act.
Another two-pointer by Rogers reduced the margin a little, but Jamie Brennan clipped over with the game’s final kick.
Monaghan await in a quarter-final in two weeks’ time.
Scorers for Donegal: Daire Ó Baoill 1-4 (2 2pt), Patrick McBrearty 0-7 (3f), Michael Murphy (1f) Ciaran Moore, Peadar Mogan, Shane O’Donnell, Conor O’Donnell 0-2 each, Ryan McHugh, Finnbarr Roarty, Oisin Gallen, Jamie Brennan 0-1 each.
Scorers for Derry: Brendan Rogers 0-5 (2 2pt), Dan Higgins 1-0, Shane McGuigan 0-4 (4f), Conor Doherty (1 2pt), Lachlan Murray (1f) 0-2 each, Niall Toner, Padraig McGrogan 0-1 each.
Donegal: Shaun Patton; Finnbarr Roarty, Brendan McCole, Odhránn McFadden-Ferry; Ryan McHugh, Caolan McGonagle, Peadar Mogan; Hugh McFadden, Ciaran Mooire; Daire Ó Baoill, Ciarán Thompson, Shane O'Donnell; Conor O'Donnell, Michael Murphy, Patrick McBrearty. Subs: Mark Curran for McFadden-Ferry (half-time), Oisin Gallen for C O’Donnell (50), Jamie Brennan for McBrearty (57), Jason McGee for McFadden (60), Niall O’Donnell for Roarty (66).
Derry: Neil McNicholl; Diarmuid Baker, Brendan Rogers, Martin Bradley; Conor Doherty, Padraig McGrogan, Eoin McEvoy; Conor Glass, Dan Higgins; Ethan Doherty, Paul Cassidy, Ciarán McFaul; Niall Toner, Shane McGuigan, Lachlan Murray. Subs: Niall Loughlin for Higgins (38), Cahir McMonagle for Toner (51), Patrick McGurk for E.Doherty (57), Declan Cassidy for McGrogan (66).
Referee: Brendan Cawley (Kildare).
