It was a tale of two halves for Donegal.
The men from the hills disappointed in the first half of this Round three Allianz League Division One clash, but they really roared into it in the second, and despite losing out by five points all told, they’ll take away more positives than negatives from this one.
That said, it was business as usual for Jim Gavin’s unflappable Dubs in GAA HQ. Brian Fenton was dominant in midfield in that first period while Niall Scully and Paddy Andrews knocked over points up front.
Colm Basquel was coming into his own from corner forward, and really put his hands up here for a starting place in the latter rounds of the league and he will be heard tell of in the championship if he keeps this up.
Before Donegal knew where they were in their new away jerseys, Dublin had raced into a 0-7 to 0-3 point lead after 20 minutes of play, with even defender Eric Lowndes joining in the fun and taking a fine score for himself.
And there were few signs that things were about to change. Paul Mannion put them six up and Niall Scully kicked his fourth of the night to give them an 0-11 to 0-5 half-time lead.
Nathan Mullins, the St Vincent’s club man who transferred to Donegal at the start of the year, endured an evening he’d rather forget, having being called ashore after 26 minutes of that first half.
Declan Bonner’s side had shown nothing of note to raise the spirits of their travelling crowd.
After the break, it was a different story.
Maybe it was Dublin complacency, maybe Donegal got a rollicking at half time, probably – it was a mix of both, but it was a different game.
Kilcar sharpshooter Paddy McBrearty came into his own, kicking a few truly incredible scores to drag his men back into the game. This, from the acutest of angles, was the pick of them.
Watch as Paddy McBrearty scores a point the acutest of angles. pic.twitter.com/iyAkiTSwGo
— The GAA (@officialgaa) February 10, 2018
Alongside him, the rampaging Ryan McHugh was only getting going while Niall O’Donnell made a positive impact on the game.
Michael Murphy came off the bench, and suddenly it looked, and sounded like Donegal were back into this one. But crucially, he missed a free, just after his introduction – and the logic of entrusting him with the kicking duties, considering he was just off the bench have to be questioned.
But, then, with the composure and cool heads of champions. Dublin just stuck to that process. Nothing changed, and they picked off a few scores and put themselves two points ahead just like that.
Points from Paul Mannion and subs Eoghan O’Gara, Ciaran Reddin and Paddy Small sealed the deal.
They went onto win by five. 0-20 0-15 being the final score.
