Donegal lose again this time against Down

Donegal hurlers suffered a fourth straight defeat as they went under to a much stronger Down in Newry on Sunday.

Down . . . . . . . . . . . 3-21
Donegal . . . . . . . . . 1-15

Twelve points separated the sides at the finish with Down laying the foundation in the opening half hour to lead 3-10 to 0-8 at half-time. Daithi Sands scored two of the Down goals and Eoghan Sands the other after Donegal had got off to a good start.
The visitors led 0-3 to 0-1 thanks to points from Lee Henderson (two) and one from Danny Cullen and despite being down a number of players due to injury, Donegal were well in the game until Daithi Sands hit the first of his two goals in a matter of minutes to put daylight between the sides for the first time.
Down led 2-3 to 0-3 after 15 minutes and Eoghan Sands piled on the misery late in the half with Down’s third goal. Sands acted quickest when Paul Sheehan’s long range free came back off the post for goal number three.
And though the game was up at half-time understrength Donegal did not crumble and they added 1-7 to their tally in the second half while the Down men added 11 more points. Ronan McDermott got the goal late on while Lee Henderson and Danny Cullen with 0-5 each did the bulk of the scoring for Donegal.
There may have been 12 points between the sides at the finish but Donegal manager Mickey McCann will not lose much sleep over the defeat or the margin of Down’s victory.
Donegal are very much in relegation play-off mode and the Donegal boss rested a number of players carrying knocks as his total focus is on the relegation play-off against Warwickshire.
Donegal lined out without the injured Declan Coulter, Gavin Browne and Ciaran Mathewson, all on the treatment table and in a rush to be fit for the play-off.
Donegal play Warwickshire next in Letterkenny and it’s odds on that the sides will then meet in the relegation play-off decider.

DONEGAL: Paul Burns; Mark Callaghan, Stephen Gillespie, Padraig Doherty; Conor Parke, Christopher McDermott, Jack O’Loughlin; Sean McVeigh (0-1), Niall Cleary; Dylan Duffy (0-1), Danny Cullen (0-5,3f), Ronan McDermott (1-1);Ciaran Finn, Lee Henderson (0-5,4f), Joe Boyle (0-1). Subs Kevin Kealy for D Duffy, PJ McCarron (0-1) for C Parke.

DOWN: Stephen Keith; Darragh Mallon, Caolan Taggart, Tom Murray; Conor Cassidy, Matthew Conlon, Liam Savage, Ruairi McCrickard (0-1), Conor O’Prey (0-1); Paul Sheehan (0-4,4f) Eoghan Sands (1-0), Ronan Costello (0-5); Tim Prenter (0-1), Daithi Sands (2-2), Oisin McManus (0-2). Subs; Mark Fisher (0-1,1f), Cathal Coulter, P J Davidson (0-2), Ryan McCusker.