Donegal looking down not up following loss to Wicklow in Christy Ring Cup

Donegal fell to a second defeat in the Christy Ring Cup on Saturday, losing by a point to Wicklow in a low-scoring encounter at O’Donnell Park.

Following on from their 1-21 to 1-17 loss in Derry, the result severely dents their prospects of reaching the final and instead raises the spectre of relegation.

Donegal led by 0-6 to 0-5 at the end of a dour first half, and with the rain falling incessantly, both sides struggled to produce quality hurling.

The home side’s cause wasn’t helped by a woeful 14 wides and half a dozen other attempts that dropped short, and they were punished midway through the second half when they were turned over inside their own 20m line and Wicklow full forward Padraig Doyle pounced, cracking an unstoppable shot past the diving Luke White. Mark Lennon followed up with a point and, with 20 minutes remaining, Wicklow led by 1-10 to 0-9.



Wicklow were reduced to 14 men when Jack Phelan was shown a second yellow card for an off the ball tussle with substitute Sean Ward, and Ruairi Campbell pulled a point back, but Donegal were fortunate not to concede a second goal after the 14-men cut the home side open with a brilliant move that ended with Doyle’s powerful shot striking the crossbar and White stranded.

Donegal and White took full advantage of the let-off. Liam Óg McKinney was dragged down in the parallelogram and the keeper came up to fire home a 62nd minute penalty that drew the sides level at 1-10 apiece.

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Wicklow’s winning point, a 25-metre free from midfielder Pádraig Doran in the 66th minute, was a controversial one. The umpire signalled wide, but linesman Ciaran McCloskey said it was good while Donegal manager Mickey McCann insisted afterwards that it had gone over the upright and should not have counted.

Referee Connolly awarded the score and it set up a frantic finale with Donegal desperately seeking an equaliser and Wicklow defending as if their lives depended on it. Substitute Kevin Kealy got through one-on-one on Conor McNally, but the Wicklow keeper made the save and Josh Cronolly McGee poked the rebound wide.

Ronan McDermott and Ruairi Campbell both shot wide, the latter hitting the upright, and Donegal had one final chance in the fourth minute of injury time. Declan Coulter found a pocket of space just beyond the 45 and opened his shoulders, but a Wicklow defender got his stick to block the shot out for a 65.



Coulter’s took the resulting 65 and it fell short in the big square, with Wicklow awarded a free out for the last puck of the game. To compound Donegal’s misery, team captain Conor Gartland was red-carded for a pull in the square, and they’ll be without him for the trip to Carrickmore next Saturday. 

Donegal were off target with four of their first five shots at the posts, with Pádraig Doyle and Luke Evans hitting the opening two points for the Wicklow men and Gerry Gilmore getting Donegal’s first point in the eighth minute. The sides were tied at 0-3 apiece, Gilmore and Coulter on the mark for the home side, Padraig Doyle rasping a shot inches over the bar for Wicklow, before Donegal briefly pulled away.

The fleet-footed Ruairi Campbell got out in front of his marker and pointed over his shoulder after hard work by Gilmore, and Gilmore then fired over a sublime point from near the sideline before tapping over a 20m free when the referee somewhat harshly penalised Wicklow keeper Conor McNally for dallying to long over a puck out.

The busiest man in O’Donnell Park was the Wicklow towel man – ambling in to dry the sliotar and the stick for every free awarded to the Garden County. While Ruairi Campbell extended Donegal’s lead to two shortly after the resumption, Wicklow were soon back level with points from their dangerous full forward Doyle and Jack Phelan.

Once Wicklow opened up a four-point lead after that quick-fire 1-1 midway through the half, Donegal were always chasing.
Substitute Ronan McDermott hit Donegal’s final point of the day in the 58th minute, and White converted the penalty.

Wicklow got the benefit of that controversial point from Padraig Doran, and try as they might, Donegal just couldn’t force an equaliser and they’ll head to Carrickmore next Saturday to face Tyrone and both sides will harbour relegation concerns at the back of their minds.

Donegal scorers: Gerry Gilmore 0-4, 1f; Luke White 1-0 penalty; Declan Coulter and Ruairi Campbell 0-2; Liam Og McKinney and Ronan McDermott 0-1.
Wicklow scorers: Pádraig Doyle 1-5, 2f; Padraig Doran 0-2, 2f; Marc Lennon 0-2; Luke Evans and Jack Phelan 0-1;
Donegal: Luke White; Oisin Kelly, Steven McBride, Jack O’Loughlin; Conor O’Grady, Danny Cullen, Conor Gartland; Sean McVeigh, Liam Óg McKinney; Brian McIntyre, Gerard Gilmore, Declan Coulter; Peter Kelly, Josh Cronolly McGee, Ruairi Campbell. Subs: Kevin Kealy for B McIntyre (47); Ronan McDermott for P Kelly (51); Sean Ward for G Gilmore (54).
Wicklow: Conor McNally; Ben Kearney, Andrew Kavanagh, Ian Clancy; Tommy Collins, John Henderson, Sam O’Dowd; Luke Evans, Padraig Doran; Jack Phelan, Dan Redmond, Ronan McMahon; Marc Lennon, Padraig Doyle, Jack Doyle. Subs: Eoin McCormack for D Redmond (54); Tomas. Mulconry for J Doyle (67); Emmet Blanchfield for M Lennon (70 + 2)
Referee: Michael Connolly