Mac's View: Great start to league campaign for Donegal with win over Cork

Tús maith for Donegal on Sunday. And it was a very comprehensive display in the win over Cork. From 1 to 15 plus, there was so much to admire.

It was nice to see Eoghan Bán (Gallagher) entering the fray once more for the county. Kevin McGettigan was unfortunate to ship an injury early on and had to go off.

I thought Patrick McBrearty showed great leadership and workrate all over the field and then he got his goal in the heel of the hunt.

There was so much to admire in the display. Peadar Mogan led the challenge and has a great turn of pace. Our own Jamie Brennan gave a workmanlike display. He kicked the first point as well and was involved in others.

Ciaran Thompson was very effective at midfield and he was up against a formidable Cork midfield, who faded a bit as the game went on.

Ryan McHugh is back to his best and big Caolan McGonagle was very effective at centre half-back. Gavin Mulreany had a very steady game for his first league encounter. He was unfortunate with the goal in the second half when the ball was turned over, but that was happening in other games at the weekend where the new phenomenon of having the goalkeeper as an extra outfield player is being used. I must mention young Ciaran Moore also as he had another very good game for Donegal.

Even without Oisin Gallen, who didn’t start, it was very hard to single out anyone who didn’t play well.

In the game itself the wind was a very big factor and in the first half we kicked some fabulous points. The wind died after the rain in the second half.

Cork did have one good period in the opening half, but overall we got on top just before half-time and when we got the first couple of points of the second half with the wind dying in the final quarter it was a very comfortable win.

For me Cork did not show enough will to win after that. They had a good midfield with Ian Maguire a very good player. They put some good passages of interplay together. Conor Corbett did not start and I was surprised they replaced Deane. Brian Hurley started but he didn’t seem to have any great appetite for the game.

Cork have a bad record when travelling to Donegal. I think they have only won once here. They  do have some good players including Rory Maguire and Matty Taylor in half-back line and Chris Og Jones at corner forward looks tasty.

But on a day when the weather was poor and not great for football, we had a great support in MacCumhaill Park, which looked in good shape. And most of the 5,000 crowd were Donegal supporters with only a handful travelling from Cork.

We looked a fit team and hopefully we can now go to Breffni Park on Sunday and put in a similar performance against Cavan. They had a good win away to Kildare last weekend.

Cavan have a new team manager and he will take the best out of them.

They will be a different animal altogether and will be more up for the game than Cork were.
https://www.donegallive.ie/news/gaa/1409589/gavin-mulreany-enjoying-going-in-at-the-deep-end.html

I am looking forward now to Sunday in Cavan.  I think the forecast is not too bad.  Breffni has a good atmosphere and Cavan are good supporters. There should be a brave crowd there.  We have to travel in big numbers to give vocal support.

Sunday was a very pleasing day and I had a welcome cup of tea at half-time courtesy of Noreen Doherty.

Special mention must be made to the St Naul’s club with three of their players starting a Donegal game for the first time and it was also noteworthy that all three got on the scoreboard.

One other comment on the day before I finish.  I really enjoyed the match programme with so much information in it. I was delighted that Charlie McLaughlin got exposure. I met him at the game on Sunday. It was nice to see reports of old games. We have a very good record in Ballybofey and then we are always hard to beat in Fr Tierney Park.

Overall,  it was a great lift first day out.

I also enjoyed the other games at the weekend on TV. I was supporting Derry (against Kerry) and I got great joy from the Monaghan success over Dublin. They were down five and then three and still came good.  Monaghan have some great young players with Stephen O’Hanlon and Micheal Bannigan very good.

Derry should have taken Conor Glass off as he was out on his feet. It was a good day for Ulster teams with 17 points out of 18. Tyrone looked good with six debutants and I enjoyed Peter Canavan on the TV on Sunday evening. It could have been a clean sweep for Ulster as Fermanagh were only caught late on by Meath.

Our  Donegal Ladies lost out to Kildare on Sunday and I was surprised and disappointed. But I think they can bounce back this Sunday when they take on Westmeath in Letterkenny.

Good luck to Mickey McCann and the hurlers who begin their league campaign with the long journey to Aughrim to play Wicklow. They are going well at the minute after winning the McGurk Cup and they will travel with confidence

Brian McEniff was in conversation with Peter Campbell