Donegal relegated after heavy defeat to dominant Derry

The wheels of Donegal's promising league season came flying off at O'Donnell Park on Saturday when Derry consigned them to a 20-point defeat and relegation to Division 3 next year. 

In what was effectively a relegation play-off, Derry turned in their best performance of the season to date, dominating the play to lead by 0-15 to 0-3 at half-time. 

Whatever slim hope Donegal might have had of getting back into the tie was dashed within seconds of the restart when Shea Cassidy, who had a red card suspension overturned midweek, held off some close attention near the endline and carried the sliotar into the parallelogram before thumping it to the net. 

It was only after that, in the 38th minute, that Gerry Gilmore landed Donegal's first point from play, but the die had long since cast. 

Gilmore had fired over three first-half frees, but missed some scoreable ones and that scoring malaise infected the entire team. 

Team captain Conor Gartland hit a couple of second-half points, while Ruairi Campbell and substitute Declan Coulter hit one apiece, but Donegal manager Mickey McCann was bitterly disappointed with his side's performance. 

Poor though Donegal were, that shouldn't detract from an excellent Derry performance given that they came to O'Donnell Park with the threat of relegation hanging over them. 

Their intent was clear from the off with Luke White called on to make a save that denied Cahal Murray a goal inside 10 seconds. Richie Mullan converted the resulting ‘65’ to put the Oakleafers into a lead they steadily built over the 70 minutes that followed. 

The damp conditions and high stakes were evident in those early exchanges. Donegal had scoring opportunities but hit three wides in the opening six minutes, each one more draining than the next. 

At the other end, Christy McNaughton hit two points in a minute, the first from a free and the second from play, and Derry mercilessly hammered point after point over White's crossbar thereafter. 

Sweeper Richie Mullan had the knack of reading where the harried Donegal defence would send their long clearances and sent pinpoint deliveries to the slick-moving Derry attack where the full-forward line of Shea Cassidy, Cathal Murray and particularly former Antrim player Christy McNaughton were lethal. 

Derry hit the target 15 times in that first half, McNaughton with seven (six from frees) and Mullan with three (two from frees). Eamon Conway and Ruairi Meenan hit two apiece, while Slaughtneil duo Cassidy and Micheál McGrath also contributed points. 

Donegal were five in arrears when Gilmore converted back-to-back frees just shy of the quarter hour but that didn't stem the relentless Derry tide and their 12-point half-time lead grew to 20 by the end with Thomas Brady getting their second goal midway through the second half. 

By the end, Derry were picking out spare men who had time and space to clip over the scorers that they looked to be playing with a couple of extra players. 

For Donegal, Steven McBride, Oisin Kelly and substitute Gavin Browne defended well at times, Brian McIntyre and Sean McVeigh too, while captain Gartland battled until the end, but too many of Mickey McCann's side put in below-par performances. 

After a league campaign which promised so much, Donegal will drop back to Division 3 next season. 

For now, manager Mickey McCann and his backroom team have a job to do in picking the squad up for the opening game of the Christy Ring Cup - way to this same Derry team in three weeks' time. 

Donegal scorers: Gerry Gilmore 0-5 (0-5f); Conor Gartland 0-2; Ruairi Campbell and Declan Coulter 0-1 each. 
Derry scorers: Christy McNaughton 0-8, (6f); Eamon Conway 0-4, Richie Mullan 0-3 (1 '65, 1f); Shea Cassidy 1-1; Thomas Brady 1-0; Ruairi Meenan and Cahal Murray 0-2 each; Micheál McGrath, Ryan McGill, and Patrick Turner 0-1 each.

Donegal: Luke White; Conor O'Grady, Steven McBride, Micheal Donaghue; Jack O'Loughlin, Oisin Kelly, Brian McIntyre; Conor Gartland, Gerry Gilmore; Sean Ward, Danny Cullen, Sean McVeigh; Ronan McDermott, Liam McKinney, Ruairi Campbell. Subs: Gavin Brown for J O'Loughlin (23 mins); Declan Coulter for M Donaghue (half time); Josh Cronolly-McGee for B McIntyre (45 mins); Kevin Kealy for S Ward (58 mins) 

Derry: Conor Campbell; Paddy Kelly, Mark Craig, Patrick Turner; Ruairi Ó Mianáin, Richie Mullan (0-3), Sean Cassidy; Micheál McGrath, Eamon Conway; Thomas Brady, John Mullan, Gerald Bradley, Cahal Murray, Christy McNaughton, Shea Cassidy. Sub: Cormac O'Doherty for J Mullan (53 mins); Callum O'Kane for M McGrath (56 mins); Ryan McGill and Eamonn Cassidy for S Cassidy and G Bradley (both 59 mins); James Friel for Sean Cassidy (60 mins) 

Referee: Peter Owens (Down)