Donegal go down to Derry in Richie McElligott Cup quarter-final

Derry’s win over Donegal in Owenbeg in Wednesday evening’s quarter-final of the Richie McElligott Cup has set them up for a semi-final next weekend against Mayo.

Derry 3-21 Donegal 1-8

Derry took control of their derby quarter-final in the first quarter and went into a lead of 0-6 to 0-1 with half their total coming from the excellent Ruairí Ó Mianáin.

Oisín Marley hit back with a point for Donegal, but Ó Mianáin tagged on two more points before taking a low pass from James Friel. The Slaughtneil forward ran 40 metres and hit the top corner of the net from the 20 metres line.

The other forward who really impressed during that opening half was Eamon Cassidy and he scored the second goal in the 26th minute when he latched on to a long ball out of defence, turned his marker and hit the net.

Derry went on to lead by 2-10 to 0-5 at the break, with Ó Mianáin scoring half their total.

Ryan Henry, Sedgae Melaugh and Callum O’Kane stretched the lead with three quick points on the re-start, but Donegal rallied with Liam McKinney hitting a goal and two points to make it 2-13 to 1-7.

All the McKinney scores came from frees. The goal resulted from a free 20 metres out that was blocked on the line but then deflected into the Derry net.

Derry responded six minutes later when Melaugh cut in from the left and unleashed a bullet that hit the roof of the net. He was among four players who immediately added points before Kevin Curran got in for what turned out to be Donegal’s final score in the 55th minute.

Ó Mianáin, James Friel with his fourth free, defender Andy McBride and Ruaidhrí McLaughlin all hit the target over the last five minutes to complete the victory.

Derry scorers: R Ó Mianáin 1-6, S Melaugh 1-3, E Cassidy 1-2, J Friel 0-4 (frees), R Henry 0-2, C O’Kane, J Cassidy, A McBride, R McLaughlin 0-1 each

Donegal scorers: L McKinney 1-4, 1-3f, K McNulty 0-2, O Marley 0-1, K Curran 0-1

Derry: C McElhinney, J McAllister, M McEldowney, A McBride, A Duffin, J Friel, N McGonagle, C O’Kane, E Boylan, J Cassidy, S Melaugh, R Ó Mianáin, R Henry, E Cassidy, K Doherty.

Subs: R McNamee for A Duffin (36), P Kelly for C McElhinney (46), C Bradley for K Doherty (48), R McLaughlin for J Cassidy (53), C Curley for E Boylan (57)

Donegal: G McLaughlin, D Farrelly, R McLaughlin, D Horgan, P Grant, K Curran, R Callaghan, F McGill, C Purvis, O Marley, C Neely, L McKinney, K Porter, K McNulty, C Diver.

Subs: M Winters for F McGill (31), B McDaid for C Neely (35), J Lambe for P Grant (48), E McFadden for D Farrelly (51), C Murphy for C Purvis (59).