Glenswilly and Michael Murphy were written off but they once again delivered against the odds to take a third Donegal senior title, beating Kilcar 1-10 to 0-12.
Murphy was man of the match once again, but they had heroes everywhere and Kilcar can have no complaints.
This game did go according to the script and that was mainly due to the presence of Murphy.
In the difficult conditions, Kilcar were nervous and Glenswilly took full advantage, leading by 1-02 to 0-01 after ten minutes.
The Donegal star accounted for the entire 1-02, firing home the goal after a long delivery from Neil Gallagher.
Glenswilly had claims for a penalty after just three minutes when Cormac Callaghan was fouled close to the line, but referee Shaun McLaughlin gave a 13m free.
Patrick McBrearty and Conor Doherty got Kilcar back within two but Brian Farrelly and a magnificent long range effort from Ciaran Gibbons restored the Glenswilly four-point advantage on 20 minutes.
It was point for point until half-time with Patrick McBrearty (2) and Ryan McHugh points for Kilcar being cancelled by Gary Copper McFadden and two more from Murphy.
The Donegal county captain accounted for 1-04 of his sides’s first half total.
Three points from Patrick McBrearty, Michael Hegarty and Ryan McHugh had Kilcar back within a point inside six minutes of the restart, but Glenswilly hit back with a point from substitute Ciaran Bonner.
Kilcar just didn’t have the accuracy to get their noses in front, hitting five second half wides.
Michael Murphy added a free and before the end Ciaran Gibbons got his second of the game as the winners showed great discipline to keep Kilcar at bay.
