Gaelic Games

Donegal defeat Tyrone making it two wins from two

Gallen fired over four points, including two late scores that decided the outcome after the home side had come from six points behind

After squandering a succession of goal chances, they survived a Red Hand revival at O’Neill’s Healy Park to secure their place in the Dr McKenna Cup semi-finals Photograph: John McVitty/Inpho
After squandering a succession of goal chances, they survived a Red Hand revival at O’Neill’s Healy Park to secure their place in the Dr McKenna Cup semi-finals Photograph: John McVitty/Inpho
Sun Jan 07 2024 - 19:00

Oisín Gallen’s sparkling second-half performance swung a tight derby tie in Donegal’s favour as Jim McGuinness made it two wins from two in his second spell as boss, defeating north-west neighbours Tyrone by 0-15 to 1-10 at Omagh on Sunday.

After squandering a succession of goal chances, they survived a Red Hand revival at O’Neill’s Healy Park to secure their place in the Dr McKenna Cup semi-finals.

Gallen fired over four points, including two late scores that decided the outcome after the home side had come from six points behind to go in front with a debut goal from Ciaran Daly.

Fermanagh opened their campaign with a 1-11 to 1-9 win over Antrim at Ahoghill, with Lee Cullen hitting their goal late in the first half, cancelling out a Benen Kelly strike.

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Derry’s second win in two outings carried them through to the semi-finals as a late surge saw off Down by 0-13 to 0-10 at Celtic Park.

It was the Mourne men who imposed themselves early on, opening out a 0-8 to 0-3 lead with scores from Pat Havern, James Guinness, Liam Kerr and Ceilium Doherty.

Shane McGuigan and Paul Cassidy narrowed the gap to two by the halfway stage, and a strong finish saw Niall Loughlin, Conor Doherty and Gareth McKinless slot over the points that swung it in the home side’s favour.

London shocked Mayo to advance to the Connacht FL semi-final with a 0-12 to 1-8 win at the Connacht Air Drome. Shay Rafter’s winning point set up a meeting with Roscommon, after Mayo had led by 0-6 to 0-5 at half-time.

O’Connor grabbed the game’s only goal, but it was the Exiles who had more in the tank in the closing stages, with Liam Gallagher and Rafter hitting the target.

Dublin set up an O’Byrne Cup semi-final date with Wexford as they edged past Offaly with just a point to spare, coming from behind to win by 0-11 to 0-10 at Gracefield.

The Faithful county led by 0-6 to 0-2 at the interval, with Ruairí McNamee and Dylan Hyland chipping in with scores, but despite a black card for Peter Duffy, the Dubs finished strongly with late points from Brian O’Leary, Shane O’Leary and Ethan Dunne.

Wexford’s second-half goal rush helped them get the better of Kildare by 3-9 to 1-14 at Wexford Park, after the sides had turned around at the break on level terms.

Cian Hughes, Paraic Hughes and veteran Ben Brosnan all hit the net to see the home side through to the last four.

Holders Longford booked their semi-final place against Meath, thanks to the placed ball finishing of Darren Gallagher, whose four points were crucial to their 0-9 to 0-7 success at Pearse Park.

They led by 0-5 to 0-4 at the interval, and withstood a late revival from the visitors to seal a narrow win.

Meath were too strong for Louth at Ashbourne, winning by 2-13 to 1-7 with goals in each half from Aaron Lynch and Matthew Costello.

Dan Corcoran’s goal kept the Wee County in touch early on, and they trailed by just a point at the break, 1-5 to 1-4. But the Royals pulled ahead after Costello netted a penalty, finishing strongly with points from Daire Rowe and Ruairi Kinsella.

Kerry romped to a facile McGrath Cup win over Limerick, finishing with 25 points to spare at Rathkeale in a 6-18 to 0-11 success.

First half goals from Sean O’Shea (2), Conor Geaney and Ronan Buckley had the Kingdom out of sight by the break, leading by 5-10 to 0-6, and a second from Geaney, along with a Darragh Roche, strike completed the rout.

Clare also had a comfortable win, seeing off Waterford by 3-18 to 1-7 at Lemybrien.

GAA results

Sunday

Connacht FL quarter-final: Mayo 1-8 London 0-12, Connacht GAA Air Dome

McGrath Cup round 2: Waterford 1-7 Clare 3-18, Lemybrien

Dr McKenna Cup round 2; Tyrone 1-10 Donegal 0-15, Healy Park; Antrim 1-9 Fermanagh 1-10, Ahoghill

Saturday

O’Byrne Cup quarter-finals: Meath 2-13 Louth 1-7, Ashbourne; Wexford 3-9 Kildare 0-14, Wexford Park; Offaly 0-10 Dublin 0-11, Gracefield; Longford 0-9 Westmeath 0-7, Pearse Park.

O’Byrne Cup Shield quarter-final: Wicklow 1-12 Carlow 0-13, Bray Emmets.

Dr McKenna Cup round 2: Derry 0-13 Down 0-10, Owenbeg.

McGrath Cup round 2: Limerick 0-11 Kerry 6-18, Rathkeale - FT

All-Ireland Club IFC semi-finals: Cill na Martra (Cork) 2-10 St Kevin’s Castlerea (Roscommon) 0-15, O’Moore Park; Allenwood (Kildare) 0-11 v Cullyhanna (Armagh) 1-11, Páirc Tailteann.

All-Ireland Club JFC semi-finals: Listowel Emmets (Kerry) 1-11 Lahardane MacHales (Mayo) 0-3, O’Connor Park; Arva (Cavan) 2-16 Milltown (Kildare) 1-7, The Downs.

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