Freak injury-time Keith Higgins goal for Mayo goal costs Donegal in Nicky Rackard opener

A freak goal in the first minute of injury time turned a certain Donegal victory into heart-breaking defeat against Mayo as the curtain came up on the Nicky Rackard Cup in Letterkenny.

Donegal 0-17 Mayo 2-14 

A long ball into the Donegal defence saw a mix-up between the otherwise excellent 'keeper Luke White and Christopher McDermott saw the sliothar slide into the path of football All-Star Keith Higgins, who calmly stroke the ball to the empty net. 

Higgins’ late smash and grab levelled matters at 2-11 to 0-17. 

And shell-shocked Donegal, who badly missed the injured talisman Danny Cullen, Gerard Gilmore and Conor O’Grady, just did not have the energy to hit back as Mayo’s outstanding Shane Boland landed the crucial final points. 

It looked like the outstanding Declan Coulter had secured victory for Donegal when he hit some superb points into the breeze to put the home side into a 0-17 to 1-10 lead with normal time almost up. 

But,a previously quiet Higgins sprang to life with a mighty point from the sideline before that killer goal. 

Donegal had the wind in the opening half and should have been much further ahead than the half-time score of 0-9 to 1-4. 

It was Higgins again who created the Mayo goal in the 31st minute when he eluded Gavin Brown for once and found Adrian Phillips with a perfect pass for the latter to cooly find the neat. 

That goal brought matters back to a score-line of Donegal 1-7 Mayo 0-3.  The home side started strongly had were 0-3 to 0-0 up by the sixth minute thanks to well struck efforts from Sean McVeigh, Bernard Lafferty and brilliant Declan Coulter. 

Mayo replied through their star man Jason Boland, Higgins and Sean Hunt. But Tir Conaill keeper Luke White was forced into making a fantastic save from a point blank shot from Mayo’s full forward Brian Hunt in the second minute. 

Play was scrapy in this half with Donegal hitting eight of their 14 wides which proved costly in the end. 

Mayo were on the defensive for the most part and used a sweeper to counteract the twin threat of Coulter and Richie Ryan who also hit a few fine points. 

The pace quickened after the break with Mayo having the better of the third quarter but Donegal clung on to a one point lead for long periods. 

But it looked like the home side were heading for a valuable victory through great scores from Ryan and Coulter before disaster and Higgins struck with deadly effect. 

Both teams now play Leitrim - first next weekend and Donegal the following - with all three sides making it through to the last five. Third place in the group will play a quarter-final against the losers of Tyrone against Armagh, with the other three teams going directly into the semi-finals.

Donegal: Luke White; Mark Callaghan, Gavin Brown, Stephen Gillespie; Christopher McDermott, Sean McVeigh (0-1), Michael Donoghue; Jack O’Loughlin, Ryan Hilferty; Niall Cleary (0-1) Richie Ryan (0-3) Declan Coulter (0-9, 4f); Ciaran Matthewson, Ronan McDermott (0-1), Bernard Lafferty (0-2) Subs; Oisin Grant for Niall Cleary (46), Lee Henderson for Michael Donoghue (55), Stephen McBride for Jack O'Loughlin (67). 

Mayo: Bobby Douglas; Gary Nolan, Michael Morley, Donal Huane; Conor Henry, Pearse McCrann, David Kenny; Sean Regan, Sean Kenny; Adrian Phillips (1-0), Keith Higgins (1-3, 2f), Shane Boland (0-8, 3f); Jason Coyne, Brian Hunt (0-1) Oisin Greally. Subs; Eoin Delaney (0-1) for Jason Coyne (h-time), Corey Scahill for Brian Hunt (53), Mark Phillips (0-1) for Conor Henry (63) Kieran Kealy for  Adrian Phillips (67), Sean Mulroy for Oisin Greally (71). 

Referee: Kevin Brady (Louth)