2003 All-Ireland semi-finalists Donegal pencilled in a probable Ulster semi final clash with Tyrone on June 20th, as the sharp shooting of full forward Adrian Sweeney and Brendan Boyle's 61st minute goal saw them defeat Antrim 1-15 to 1-09 in Ballybofey.
A listless first half saw eight points shared evenly between the sides but a Michael Hegarty brace and a typically arching Sweeney point from long range saw the home side hit the ground running after the restart. Colm McFadden increased his presence on the game and set up Boyle to palm home Donegal's goal. Saffrons' manager PJ O'Hare saw his son Darren burst through for a consolation goal with two minutes remaining, and will have much on his mind for the qualifiers.
Club commitments last night saw Donegal stalwart Jim McGuinness missing from the bench. However, the home side did not suffer in the veteran's absence as Antrim's lack of composure in front of the posts and midfielder Mark McCrory's early departure with a head wound after a clash with Christy Toye helped the O'Donnell County.
Brendan Devenney opened the low-scoring first half with a seventh minute free, added to eighteen minutes later by the same player. In between, Antrim midfielder Joe Quinn dominated broken play with Kevin Madden clipping over two frees for a brief 0-02 to 0-01 lead. A strangely quiet Hegarty notched his first soon after and Sweeney's first on 32 minutes answered back Madden and O'Hare as the teams went in at 0-04 apiece.
Brian McEniff's half time talk did wonders for Donegal as a hat-trick of scores from Hegarty (0-02) and Sweeney put them in the ascendancy after the restart.
Antrim, on the other hand, went into their shell as two points from Madden and one from Kevin McGourty would be their only scores until O'Hare clambered through for his late goal on 69 minutes.
By that stage it was too late. Points from Sweeney (0-03), McFadden and Toye had put Donegal 0-12 to 0-07 in front and, on the 61st minute, Colm McFadden held the ball up with split second timing for Brendan Boyle to burst onto it through the Saffrons' rearguard and drill home.
McFadden hit two more points as Sweeney closed out the win right on 70 minutes with his fifth of the afternoon. O'Hare's side showed signs of the life they will need in the qualifiers as they fought to the bitter end, with Madden and Marron adding a point each before the final whistle.
Filed by Barry J Whyte
