Dublin's fight for survival in Division 1 of the Allianz Football League will go down to the final day of the campaign after throwing themselves a vital lifeline with their best performance of 2022, securing back to back wins.
A slow start aside, Dessie Farrell's side performed solidly throughout and were full value for their four-point win having previously overcome All-Ireland title holders Tyrone in Round 5.
It was all doom and gloom before that on the back of four straight defeats but now Dublin know that if they beat Monaghan in Clones next Sunday, they have a great chance of staying up.
It's not entirely in their own hands as Tyrone, Donegal and Kildare - all on five points in the table, one ahead of Dublin and Monaghan - could all win next weekend and in that case Dublin and Monaghan would still go down regardless of what happens in Clones.
But Dublin couldn't do any more than give themselves a fighting chance and they certainly did that with another morale boosting win here, thanks partly to 1-05 from Dean Rock and a goal from Niall Scully too.
Rock and Scully were among a clutch of Dublin players who looked far brighter and much more interested and alive than in previous games with Brian Howard, Brian Fenton and Sean Bugler delivering when it mattered too.
This was much more like the Dublin we've known and admired for the last decade or so, building on their result against Tyrone with a solid display.
They even grabbed a rare goal in the opening 20 minutes having failed to find the net in their previous four games.
Dublin's only previous goal in the campaign was scored by Lorcan O'Dell in the Round 1 defeat to Armagh back in late January.
Mind you, Dublin did have to weather an early Donegal storm with Declan Bonner's side beginning brightly and running up a 1-04 to 0-02 lead.
Patrick McBrearty, Donegal's top scorer with 1-06, grabbed their goal in the 11th minute with an audacious lob over Dublin goalkeeper Michael Shiel.
It could have been a glorious fluke either, depending on your persuasion with McBrearty skipping away from his marker Michael Fitzsimons close to the right endline and curling a left footed, dipping shot in over Shiel's head at the far post.
The stunning score, or remarkable slice of luck, evoked memories of Mikey Sheehy's famous lob over a similarly backpedaling Paddy Cullen in the 1978 All-Ireland final.
Trailing by five points, and clearly out of luck, Dublin could have figured it was going to be another difficult day but dug deep from there on to wrestle back control of the game by half-time when they led 1-08 to 1-05.
McBrearty took Fitzsimons for 1-02 in all in the first-half but Donegal only added one more point to their overall tally between the 16th minute and half-time, an Aaron Doherty score.
As for Dublin, they came roaring back into it, outscoring Donegal by 1-06 to 0-01 in that second quarter of the game.
Howard summed up the Dublin spirit by overcoming an early error when he hand-passed the ball away to come strongly into the game and score two points, one of which he engineered himself with a terrific fetch deep in his own defence.
Midfielders Fenton and Tom Lahiff both strode forward for points while Dubs fans in the 15,962 crowd finally got to celebrate a goal when Scully struck to the net.
Cormac Costello and Lahiff were involved in the build-up and Scully fired low and accurately to the right of goalkeeper Shaun Patton.
Dublin maintained full control throughout the second-half though Michael Murphy's fisted goal for Donegal, after Ryan McHugh played a long ball in from the right, kept the 2012 All-Ireland winners in it.
McBrearty was terrific for them too and picked off a series of points that gave them some hope though Rock was impressive at the other end for Dublin, kicking three of his team's last four points in the game.
In truth, the four-point margin flattered Donegal who were well beaten and were outscored by 2-13 to 1-7 from the first quarter onwards. Declan Bonner's side at least know they will definitely stay in Division 1 for 2023 if they beat Armagh next weekend.
Dublin: Michael Shiel; Cian Murphy, David Byrne, Michael Fitzsimons; Jonny Cooper, Robbie McDaid, James McCarthy; Brian Fenton (0-02), Tom Lahiff (0-01); Brian Howard (0-03), Sean Bugler (0-01), Niall Scully (1-00); Ciaran Kilkenny, Cormac Costello (0-03), Dean Rock (1-05, 0-03f, 1-00 pen).
Subs: Eoin Murchan for Cooper 52, Lee Gannon for Scully 64, Brian O'Leary for Costello 67, Alex Wright for Kilkenny 71, Cillian O'Shea for McCarthy 72.
Donegal: Shaun Patton; Stephen McMenamin, Caolan Ward, Brendan McCole; Ryan McHugh (0-01), Eoghan Ban Gallagher, Odhran McFadden Ferry; Hugh McFadden, Jason McGee; Peadar Mogan, Michael Murphy (1-01, 0-01f), Aaron Doherty (0-01); Patrick McBrearty (1-06, 0-01f), Conor O'Donnell (0-02), Jamie Brennan.
Subs: Shane O'Donnell for Brennan 50, Ethan O'Donnell for Doherty 56, Jeaic McKelvey for McHugh 60, Paul Brennan for McFadden 62, Neil McGee for McMenamin 69.
Referee: Cormac Reilly (Meath).
