Sounds of summer: Donegal's All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals have brought all sorts

2009 All-Ireland quarter-final 
August 2
Donegal 2-10 Cork 1-27
Donegal, by 2009, were still up and down and were stripped bare by Cork in the All-Ireland quarter-final. Following on from John Joe Doherty's side's relegation from Division 1 and disastrous 1-10 to 0-12 loss at home to Antrim in Ulster, things were low. The fall-out from the loss to Liam Bradley's side saw a players' stand-off with the local media, although on the pitch, step-by-step, things did improve, slowly. 
Donegal went in level with Carlow, 0-6 to 1-3, at the break in the first of the qualifiers, before goals from Rory Kavanagh and Conall Dunne sealed a 2-13 to 1-9 and when Clare came to Ballbofey, Christy Toye suffered a serious Achilles injury as Donegal won 0-13 to 1-7. However, Donegal came to life with a brilliant 2-13 to 0-18 extra-time victory over Derry with Michael Murphy, still only 19, putting in a top-class showing and Kevin Cassidy hitting the vital goal and would seal a last eight spot thanks to a battling 0-14 to 0-13 success in Sligo against Galway.
In ways, the season was mirroring the 2003 campaign, with Donegal capable of anything, but they were battered by Cork at Croke Park, with the Munster champions running in a record score for a football match at the venue. Trailing 0-13 to 0-3 at the break, Donegal fell further behind when Paul Kerrigan netted for Cork. Goals from Kavanagh and Stephen Griffin did little to ease the pain as Donegal left with their tails between their legs. 
“Cork started very well, they were very lively and by half-time the game was over - there is no point in saying anything else,” Doherty said an honest appraisal of what had gone before.