National League Division One

Derry             0-14

Donegal             0-10
By Ciaran O’Neill
Donegal will play their football in Division 2 of the National Football League next year after Derry sealed their fate will a convincing four point victory in Watty Graham Park on Sunday afternoon.

In truth, the Oak Leaf men never really had to move out of second gear against a Donegal seriously lacking in attacking threat. Derry boss Cassidy will have been particularly pleased that eight of his players scored, including every member of the forward line.
The fact that six of Donegal’s points came courtesy of Michael Doherty’s free-kick taking skills tells its own story.

While Sunday’s game in Maghera was certainly no classic, it still provided good entertainment for the large Easter Sunday crowd. Donegal needed only twenty seconds to open the scoring through a Michael Maguire point but Derry hit back within two minutes courtesy of a Barry McGoldrick free kick.
A Seamus Bradley point put the Oak Leaf County in the lead before Donegal regained the advantage through a Michael Doherty free kick and an excellent Brian Roper point after 10 minutes.
The two teams continued to trade points through an Eoin Bradley free kick for Derry and another excellent Roper score as both sides sought to stamp their authority on the game in the early stages.
Derry’s corner forward Mark Lynch scored the point of the half after 21 minutes to again bring the scores level and the home side again took the lead through an excellent Enda Lynn point.
Michael Doherty scored another pinpoint free kick before another Lynch point left the score 0-6 0-5 in Derry’s favour at half time.
Derry moved up a gear in the second half, with Enda Muldoon and Patsy Bradley exerting more influence in midfield.
Points from James Kielt and Mark Lynch opened up a three point gap in Derry’s favour, before Michael Doherty scored a point from yet another free kick.

In fact, Donegal were relying too much on Doherty’s skill from the dead ball and this was to eventually be a key factor in the outcome of the game.
Kielt scored another great point after eight minutes of the second half and it looked at this point that Derry would go on to win easily. Further points from Brian Og McAlary and Sean Leo McGoldrick reinforced this outlook.
However, despite knowing what Doherty was capable of, Derry continued to give away free kicks in dangerous positions.
As a result, they never managed to comfortably pull away from their opponents. A key moment came in the 66th minute when Sean Marty Lockhart, who had just come on as a sub a few minutes earlier, blocked a Michael Murphy shot which looked destined for goal.
The score at this stage was 0-12 to 0-8 in Derry’s favour and it seemed to kill off any fight that Donegal had left in them.
In the closing stages the teams traded points through Kielt and Muldoon for Derry, and Christy Toye and another Doherty free kick for Donegal, leaving the final score 0-14 to 0-10.
Derry: Barry Gillis; Joe Keenan: Kevin McGuckian: Gerard O’Kane; Brian Og McAlary: Barry McGoldrick (0-01): Sean Leo McGoldrick (0-01); Patsy Bradley: Enda Muldoon (0-01); Enda Lynn (0-01): Brian Mullan: James Keilt (0-03, 1f); Seamus Bradley (0-01): Eoin Bradley (0-02, 1f): Mark Lynch (0-03, 1f).
Subs: Sean M Lockhart for Keenan. Paul Cartin for McAlary, Chris McKeague for Lynn, Joe Diver for Muldoon

Donegal: Paul Durcan; Johnny Gallagher: NeilMcGee: Paddy McDaid; Shane McGowan: Barry Monaghan: Michael Maguire (0-01); Brendan Boyle: Christy Toye (0-01); David Walsh, Conal Dunne, Rory Kavanagh; Brian Roper (0-02), Ryan Bradley, Michael Doherty (0-06, 6f).

Subs: Michael Murphy for Bradley, Brendan Devenney for Walsh, Kevin Cassidy for McGowan, Michael Hegarty for Roper, Dara Gallagher for Dunne, Charlie Byrne for McDaid

Referee: Padraig Hughes (Armagh)