12-man Dungloe just about hold on to win in Downings in niggly SFC opener

12-man Dungloe held on to get their SFC campaign up and running with a narrow win over Downings, at the end of a feisty second half in Páirc Na Dúnaibh.

Barry Curran and second-half substitutes Noel McBride and Karl Magee were the Dungloe players to get their marching orders.

Curran walked for a second yellow card offence after he had won a free and seemed to shrug off his man, and Magee and McBride were shown straight reds after two late bust-ups.

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Curran, who along with his brothers Mark and Darren, led the Dungloe charge from the off, got his marching orders at the three-quarter mark.

Downings also had Tiernan McBride sent off on a black card offence late on as the game ended in chaos and a number of dust-ups as last year’s finalists held on.

Dungloe came from behind to lead by five points at half-time, 2-5 to 0-6, after Downings had hit the opening two points with strikes from Johnny McGroddy and Gary Ban McClafferty.

Dylan Sweeney kicked Dungloe’s opening score in the 12th minute with a two-pointer to level the game.

Luke Clerkin, who had a fine game on his first senior championship start, edged the men from Rosses Park ahead 0-3 to 0-2 just before the first of Dungloe’s two first-half goals.

Ryan Greene rattled the back of the Downings net after good approach play from man of the match Mark Curran.

Paddy McElwee, who was posing an early threat for the locals, struck for two well-taken points to cut the Dungloe lead to two points, 1-3 to 0-4.

But soon after, the jinking Daire Gallagher struck for Dungloe’s second three-pointer after Shaun McGee's initial strike had come back off the upright. That was in the 25th minute and opened up a six-point 2-4 to 0-4 lead.

The margin was back to five points at the half-time whistle as Johnny McGroddy, with the first of his two-pointers, and goal-scorer Gallagher knocked over a point.

McElwee drew first blood for the locals with the opening point of the second half, and with new signing Cian McBride, recently transferred from Meath, becoming more influential in the middle of the field, Downings took the challenge to Dungloe.

And with two-pointers from Danny McBride and McGroddy, the locals pushed the men from the Rosses all the way.

But with Dylan Sweeney - who had what seemed to be a two-point score waved wide in the middle of the second half - and Luke Clerkin stepping into the breach, Dungloe held on for the precious opening-round win.

Dungloe scorers: Daire Gallagher 1-1; Ryan Greene 1-1; Danny Rodgers 0-2,1tpf; Luke Clerkin 0-3, 3f; Dylan Sweeney 0-2,1 tp; Barry Curran, Aaron Neely and Ryan Greene 0-1 each.

Downings scorers: Johnny McGroddy 0-7, 3tp; Paddy McElwee 0-6, 2 tpf; Danny McBride 0-2, 1tp; Gary Ban McClafferty and Shane Coll 0-1 each..

Downings: Jordan Nugent; Tiernan McBride, Alan Pasoma, Padraig McGinty; Alex Gerwatowski, Paul McGroddy, Paidin Shiels; Oisin Boyce, Cian McBride; Kyle McFadden, Johnny McGroddy, Shane Coll; Ronan Pasoma, Paddy McElwee, Gary Ban McClafferty.

Subs: Danny McBride for Paul McGroddy (h/t); Hugo Davis for A. Pasoma; Jamie Lee McBride for K. McFadden; Shay Coyle for S. Coll; Callum Cullen for Gary Ban McClafferty.

Dungloe: Danny Rodgers; Jason McBride, Aaron Ward, Conor O’Donnell; Barry Curran, Mark Curran, Aaron Neely; Matthew Ward, Darren Curran; Dylan Sweeney, Daire Gallagher, Luke Clerkin; Ryan Greene, Ryan Connors, Shaun McGee.

Subs: Karl Magee for C. O’Donnell; Oisin Bonner for S. McGee; Conor Greene for R. Greene.

Referee: Ryan Walsh (Bundoran).