“Goals win games, that’s the bottom line”: Donegal manager James Daly

Donegal 2-7
Cavan 0-8

By Damien Donohoe

DONEGAL manager James Daly said they opted to play against the wind in the opening half and the ploy worked to perfection in this Lidl Division 2 final in St Tiernach’s Park, Clones.

Donegal might not have scored until the 22nd minute but they contained Cavan to 0-4 in that time and they reduced the margin with another point before the break to trail by just two with wind advantage to come.

Donegal’s Karen Guthrie: Both sides of the line

“We went for the toss and we wanted to play against the wind in the first half. The plan was to try and contain Cavan when they had the wind,” said Daly.

“Our bench is made up of younger, attack-minded girls, so the idea was that they could come on and make an impact with the wind in the second half. That was the game plan and, to be fair, it worked out really well.

“To go in only a couple of points down, holding them to four points, we felt we were in a good position.”

And Donegal made the most of their strong position with goals from Katie Dowds and Mia Bennett sealing the title.

“Goals win games, that’s the bottom line. When you score goals, chances are you’re going to win. The first one came from following the ball in, and that’s something we always talk about. It’s always hard for a goalkeeper when there’s pressure coming in like that, and we got our reward.

“The second goal summed up a lot of what we’re trying to do. The running off the shoulder and the support play was excellent.”

Cavan manager Emmett Daly, who has secured promotion to the top flight for the first time in history, said they needed to build a bigger lead with the wind.

“It is extremely disappointing. We definitely came for the cup, without a shadow of a doubt.

“I don’t think there was enough done. We were patient on the ball but we probably needed to be a little bit more ruthless and get a few more scores. Donegal are hard to break down and if you take high risks and get turned over, they punish you. We were happy enough going in at half-time, I thought we controlled it well, but maybe we just didn’t take full advantage of the conditions.”

Scorers:

Donegal: K Dowds 1-3, M Bennett 1-0, S White 0-2f, C McGarvey 0-1, E Gallagher 0-1.
Cavan: E Sheridan 0-6 (4f), S Greene 0-1, C Dolan 0-1.

DONEGAL: C Friel; N Carr, E McGinley, S McFeely; T Hegarty, F McManamon, S McFadden; C Brennan, R Rodgers (c); B McLaughlin, K Dowds, N Boyle; S White, M Bennett, C McGarvey.
Subs: E Gallagher for C Brennan; U Boyle for M Bennett.

CAVAN: E Baugh; S Kelly, A Kennedy, S Greene; C Charters, D Lynch, Z Fay; M Fitzpatrick, K McCormack; C Dolan, E Sheridan, N Keenaghan; S Lynch, A Sheridan, K M Reilly.
Subs: E Brady for Fitzpatrick; L Crowe for D Lynch; C McCaffrey for McCormack; N McCorry for Reilly; C Lynch for Keenaghan.

Referee: A Gallagher (Dublin).

ends