Electric Ireland All-Ireland Minor Football Championship Quarter-Final – Donegal 2-13 Cork 0-13

Donegal defeated Cork by 2-13 to 0-13 in the Electric Ireland All-Ireland Minor Football Championship Quarter-Final on Saturday July 30th at Croke Park.

REPORT: Electric Ireland MFC Quarter-Final @officialdonegal defeat @OfficialCorkGAA https://t.co/ZUalpm6eBS pic.twitter.com/YyXs5rmKDq

— The GAA (@officialgaa) July 30, 2016

Electric Ireland MFC Q-F: Donegal finish strongly

Donegal 2-13 Cork 0-13

By Paul Keane at Croke Park for GAA.ie

They lived dangerously initially, but Donegal eventually came good at Croke Park with a storming second-half display to secure their Electric Ireland All-Ireland minor football semi-final spot.

The Ulster champions were fortunate to be just four down after a poor first-half, but blitzed the Rebels after the break to march confidently through to next month’s semi-final. The 2014 All-Ireland finalists outscored Cork by 1-10 to 0-3 in the second-half to comfortably secure a clash with Galway.

Jason McGee’s first-half goal kept Donegal in it when they were struggling and sub Shane McGrath’s goal in the 57th minute ultimately secured the win. Niall O’Donnell’s five point haul was significant also while Cork finished with 14 men following the second yellow card picked up by corner-back Alan McCarthy in the 52nd minute.

Donegal will hope for a more rounded performance next time out because they survived on scraps early on and were grateful for McGee’s 27th minute goal. The north westerners fell 0-5 to 0-1 down and didn’t score their first point from open play until first-half injury-time.

But McGee’s excellent goal when he punished Cork on the counter attack with a penetrating burst through the middle and rifled shot to the left corner hauled them right back. O’Donnell added a point from a free shortly after Donegal trailed by just one at 0-6 to 1-2.

Cork finished the half with a burst though and four points on the trot, two of those from the excellent Mark Buckley, left clear daylight between them again. Cork were 0-10 to 1-3 up at the break though surprisingly added just three more points in the game, two of those from frees.

Donegal restarted with three points in a row and drew level in the 42nd minute when Enda McCormick scored his first of two points. Donegal led by a point with 10 minutes to go, but finished strongly, capitalising on the Cork dismissal to reel off 1-2 without reply in the final seven minutes or so.

Scorers for Donegal: N O’Donnell 0-5 (4fs), J McGee 1-0, S McGrath 1-0, P Mogan 0-3 (3fs), A McLaughlin 0-2, E McCormick 0-2, E McGettigan 0-1.

Scorers for Cork: M Buckley 0-5 (1 45), D Gore 0-4 (3fs), T Corkery 0-1, C Maguire 0-1, C O’Callaghan 0-1, C O’Mahony 0-1 (f).

Donegal: G Mulreany; S Ferry, A McCrea, M Curran; O Shiels, JD Boyle, A McLaughlin; J McGee, K Gallagher; P Mogan, N Boyle, E McCormick; O McFadden-Ferry, N O’Donnell, E McGettigan
Subs: A Deeney for McCrea (35+2), S McGrath for Shiels (h/t), B O’Donnell for Boyle (54), G Molloy for McFadden-Ferry (64).

Cork: ​M White; A McCarthy, N Walsh, T Corkery; A Browne, R O’Driscoll, L O’Donovan; S Minihane, C Foley; S O’Sullivan, M Buckley, C Maguire; D Gore, C O’Callaghan, C Og Jones
Subs: K McMahon for White (12), S Ryan for Minihane (h/t), C O’Mahony for Maguire (44), J Twomey for O’Driscoll (46), R Fowley for O’Sullivan (50), L Fahy for Jones (54).

Referee: J Henry (Mayo)

Donegal claim six-point win over Cork to book All-Ireland minor semi-final place https://t.co/mXaB23GDJ6 pic.twitter.com/cSLYlN9D6L

— The42.ie (@The42_ie) July 30, 2016

Team News

Cork minor football has been announcedhttps://t.co/3dwnPaVbc2

— Cork GAA (@OfficialCorkGAA) July 29, 2016

The Cork Minor Football team for tomorrow All-Ireland Football Championship Quarter-Final v Donegal in Croke Park has been announced as follows

1) Mark White (Clonakilty)
2) Alan McCarthy (St Finbarrs)
3) Aidan Browne (Newmarket)
4) Liam O Donovan (Clonakilty)
5) Sean Minehane (Ilen Rovers)
6) Nathan Walsh (Douglas)
7) Rory O Driscoll (Garnish)
8) Cathal Foley (Kilmichael)
9) Tadgh Corkery (Cill Na Martra)
10) Chris Og Jones (Iveleary)
11) Colm O Callaghan (Eire Og)
12) Cathal Maguire (Castlehaven)
13) Damien Gore (Kilmacabea)
14) Mark Buckley (Dohenys)
15) Sean O Sullivan (Mitchelstown)