St Michael's see off Aodh Ruadh to seal semi-final spot

St Michael’s steered themselves to a first Donegal SFC semi-final since 2017 with a comfortable win over an Aodh Ruadh side who saw little go their way.

St Michael’s 3-13
Aodh Ruadh 0-10

The Ballyshannon side were dealt a blow beforehand with the loss of key personnel in the form of Shane McGrath and David Dolan. From the off, they looked off and St Michael’s made them suffer. 

After a chasing in the first quarter, Aodh Ruadh improved considerably in the second to come from nine down to trail by five, 1-7 to 0-5, at half-time and give their support some reason for optimism. 

However, with Michael Langan on form with a first half goal then Martin McElhinney adding a second with Karl O’Brien’s short kick-out pinched, it was Daniel McLaughlin’s side who progressed. Edward O’Reilly’s goal came right at the end, just to put a coat of gloss on it.

Langan, seven days beforehand, was Donegal’s only All-Star nomination and proceeded to score 1-7 at the Bridge against Killybegs. Tonight, under the floodlights of MacCumhaill Park he scored 1-3, with the first score of the night having arrived from distance before the four-minute mark. 

It set the tone and nothing seemed to work for Aodh Ruadh in the opening quarter, following which they trailed 1-5 to 0-0. Hugh O’Donnell, Andrew Kelly and McElhinney all got on the scoresheet with Aodh Ruadh, at the other end, dropping three short, hitting the upright and losing Jason Granaghan to a black card. In his 10-minutes absence, his team were outscored 1-4 to 0-0.

Langan’s goal came on 18 minutes when, following a run into space, his initial shot at goal was blocked only to fall back into his path, and he shot past O’Brien at the second time of asking. St Michael’s, still without Colm McFadden, opened the second quarter with another fantastic Langan score to go 1-6 to 0-0 up on 21 minutes. 

Aodh Ruadh, in their first quarter-final since 2007, got off the mark finally in the 21st minute with Ryan Granaghan the scorer. And although Michael Gallagher re-established the nine-point St Michael’s cushion, it preceded a decent spell from Aodh Ruadh who finished the half with four on the spin - Johnny Gethins and Eddie Lynch then a brace from Philip Patton.

When Niall Murray scored the opening point of the second half Aodh Ruadh were chugging along nicely in the circumstances, although St Michael’s, right then, put the foot down and that was to be the end of that. Kelly and O’Donnell pointed and when McElhinney rammed home their second goal on 36 minutes for a lead of 2-9 to 0-6 it was looking beyond Barry Ward's team.

O’Brien tried to get a kick-out off quickly only for Kelly to be the willing recipient and he fed in McElhinney for the simplest of goals. The Aodh Ruadh goalkeeper then saw a Carlos O’Reilly shot bounce over his crossbar. O’Donnell then cashed in on the St Michael’s dominance to set up a lead of 2-10 to 0-8, with Patton and Johnny Gallagher scoring at the other end, by water-break two.

Cian Rooney pointed for Aodh Ruadh after a Nathan Boyle that fell short and rebounded off the crossbar but the last quarter was, by and large, a portfolio of missing chances from both teams.

Ninety seconds from time, a deep Langan ball set the two O’Reilly brothers in the clear and from a touch from Carlos, Edward added his side’s third goal.

Aodh Ruadh: Karl O’Brien; Jason Granaghan; Colm Kelly, Conor Patton; Mark McGlynn, Eddie Lynch (0-1), Johnny Gethins (0-1); Eamon McGrath, Nathan Boyle; Philip Patton (0-3, 2f), Niall Murray (0-1), Michael McKenna; Ryan Granaghan (0-2), Darren Drummond, Oisin Rooney. Subs: Johnny Gallagher (0-1) for McKenna (14), Cian Rooney (0-1) for R Granaghan (half-time), Senan Rooney for Murray (38), Kyle Murray for C Patton (46), R Granagan for Drummond (48)

St Michael’s: Oisin Cannon; Jamie Hunter, Liam Paul Ferry, Stephen Doak (0-1); Kyle McGarvey, Michael Gallagher (0-1), Oisin Langan; Michael Langan (1-3, 1f), Martin Breslin; Carlos O’Reilly (0-3), Hugh O’Donnell (0-2), Christy Toye; Andrew Kelly (0-2), Martin McElhinney (1-1), Bryan Creed. Subs: Edward O’Reilly (1-0) for Toye (46), Ciaran Kelly for Breed (51), Ruairí Friel for O Langan (60), Conan Brennan for C O’Reilly (60+3)

Referee: James Connors (St Eunan’s)