3 minutes:Donegal allay fears of a nervous start and set the tempo early. Karl Lacey's break down the right is followed by a precise high ball into Michael Murphy. The full forward beats Kevin Keane comprehensively and crashes an explosive shot into the top of the net for the first of his influential contributions.
Donegal 1-0 Mayo 0-0
6 minutes:After much speculative attention on how referee Maurice Deegan will officiate at the match, he makes a decisive start, issuing an early yellow card to Mayo's Jason Doherty and a second to Lee Keegan for a head-high challenge on Mark McHugh. The message goes out early: fouling will be risky.
Donegal 1-0 Mayo 0-0
11 minutes:The match's critical swing moment. A possible free to Mayo in front of the Donegal goal is given the other way and the ball is worked quickly up and across the pitch, culminating in Paddy McBrearty's shot coming back off the post. The unfortunate Keane fails to gather and Colm McFadden rams in the second goal.
Donegal 2-1 Mayo 0-0
35+ minutes:Just as in the semi-final against Dublin, Mayo round off a stirring second quarter, which sees them out-score their opponents 0-5 to 0-1 in the 10 minutes before the interval, culminating in Enda Varley's spectacular point after Donal Vaughan's break. Donegal 2-4 Mayo 0-7
44 minutes:Four minutes earlier, a Donegal break saw Frank McGlynn running a good support for McHugh and the finish is calm and well-executed to regain a four-point lead. Compounding matters for Mayo, who need to get scoreboard traction in the early stages of the second half, are two wides in quick succession from Varley and Conroy.
Donegal 2-6 Mayo 0-8
48 minutes:The longest interval in the match without a score – eight minutes – is finally bridged by Donegal extending the lead to five. The free comes from a risky high challenge by Vaughan, who's already on yellow, and the free from 45 metres is expertly dispatched by Murphy to move the match that bit farther beyond Mayo.
Donegal 2-7 Mayo 0-8
59 minutes:McFadden comes from behind Keane to get the nudge on a long delivery and take possession towards the left corner. His turn inside opens up the cover and it takes a foul by Keith Higgins to bring down the big forward. A straightforward free from Murphy restores the five-point lead.
Donegal 2-9 Mayo 0-10
70 minutes:Four points in it and three minutes of injury time looming and Mayo throw everything into attack. A quick movement down the right finds replacement Séamus O'Shea coming in, in support. Briefly a goal, to cut the deficit to a point, looks on but the Mayo man is crowded out.
Donegal 2-11 Mayo 0-13
