Donegal come good after the break to defeat Mayo in Nickey Rackard Cup

Donegal went two from two with a fine win over a fancied Mayo side at Letterkenny’s O’Donnell Park in the Nickey Rackard Cup.

Following on from their victory in Armagh, Mickey McCann’s younger charges came through. especially in a most impressive second half after the sides were level at the break on a score of 0-8 each.

Donegal showed greater accuracy and fitness in the final quarter and outscored Mayo by 0-13 to 0-8 in the second half. Veteran Declan Coulter made his first start for Mickey McCann’s men while Danny Cullen was on the bench.

Donegal were rapidly out of the blocks with marksman Gerry Gilmore, Luke White and Ruairí Campbell all hitting the target. But Mayo, who were operating in the higher Division 2A of the Allianz Hurling League hit back with points of their own from Eoin Delaney, Oisin Greally and Luke Connor inside of the first 10 minutes.

Gilmore was back to his best and landed a superb point from a most acute angle as Mayo keeper Bobby Douglas responded with a fine long-range free. Exchanges were crisp and swift moving and Liam McKinney was becoming increasingly influential and he found the target along with Gilmore to put Donegal ahead by two points.

Undaunted, a physically powerful Mayo responded with a swift salvo of points from Liam Lavin, Cormac Phillips and Shane Boland to put them in front by 0-7 to 0-6.

This was a period of concern for McCann’s men but the recent addition Oisin Grant and the inevitable Gilmore edged the home side back in front before Liam Lavin levelled matters as the sides tied at the break.

It was still tit for tat in the opening stages of the second half as Mayo keeper Douglas landed three monster long-range frees which were responded to by points from McKinney, Coulter and Gilmore to tie matters again at 0-11 each. But that was as close as the Westerners were to get to an increasingly rampant Donegal.

The streak with three points on the spin from Gilmore-team captain Conor Gartland added two more while Campbell put the home side ahead by 0-17 to 0-11.

Donegal were in total control and were able to run their bench with Peter Kelly, Sean Ward (0-1) and Dean Harvey making their presence felt. White and McKinney added two more points while Mayo could only manage two more points in the last 20 minutes from Douglas and Boland.

This was a big victory for Donegal who are top of the table and well placed to get to the final stages in a year where they have the Nickey Rackard Cup firmly in their sights.

Donegal scorers: Gerry Gilmore 0-8,7f; Liam McKinney 0-3; Ruairi Campbell and Conor Gartland 0-2; Luke White 0-2, 2f; Declan Coulter, Peter Kelly, Sean Ward and Oisin Grant 0-1.
Mayo scorers: Bobby Douglas 0-4f; Liam Lavin, Cormac Phillips, Shane Boland 0-2; Luke Connor, Oisin Greally and Eoin Delaney 0-1. 

Donegal: Luke White; Ciaran Curran, Stephen McBride, Declan Coulter; Stephen Gillespie, Sean McVeigh, Jack O’Loughlin; Gerry Gilmore, Conor O’Grady; Brian MacIntyre, Oisín Grant, Conor Gartland; Josh Cronolly McGee, Liam McKinney Ruairi Campbell. Subs: Peter Kelly for McGee Cronolly (43), Sean Ward for McIntyre (50), Dean Harvey for Grant (58).
Mayo: Bobby Douglas; Luke Connor, Oisin Greally, Conal Hession; Matthew Connor, David Kenny, Eoghan Collins; Adrian Phillips, John Heraty; Eoin Delaney  Cormac Phillips, Liam Lavin; Shane Boland, Sean Regan, Sean Kenny. Subs: Joe Burke for Kenny (45), Michael Farrell for Regan (50), Conor Murray for Connor (53), Kealan Gallagher for C Phillips (58), Evan Hearty for John Hearty (60).
Referee: James Clarke (Cavan).