By Frank Shouldice

Mayo 0-10

HARD to believe that this was Donegal’s first ever NFL title, but they clinched it with three late points and allowed themselves an enthusiastic lap of honor in front of 29,433 fans at Croke Park before they set their minds on a championship clash with Armagh.

“Everyone was saying we didn’t have the bottle for winning finals,” remarked wing-forward Brian Roper afterwards. “Today we showed the bottle.”

Light rain just before the throw-in made the surface very slippy, and although the clouds soon drifted away several players were unable to deal with conditions underfoot.

Even more confusing was the number of players ruled out injured only to start the game or be sprung from the bench to replace their listed replacements.

In the end it was a very satisfactory end to an unbeaten League campaign under Brian McIver. “A just reward,” he concluded. “A great reward.”

They started well with Roper clipping two neat points and in the early exchanges they threatened to rip Mayo apart. Colm McFadden was particularly sharp and it took 40 minutes before Liam O’Malley could get to grips with him.

The warning signs came inside the first minute. McFadden collected a high ball over the top and might have plucked a goal with his first touch. He repeated the move 19 minutes later only for David Clarke to divert the ball for a fifty.

John O’Mahony sent in the more experienced Aidan Higgins (for James Kilcullen) to try to stem the flow.

Andy Moran was Mayo’s brightest spark up front and he showed genuine pace to set up Conor Mortimer for their opening score after 14 minutes. By then Donegal were four ahead but Mayo have been scoring goals through the league and it took a fine save by Paul Durcan to deny Ger Brady from close-range.

David Heaney and James Nallen began to win some ball at midfield, and Pat Harte moved to a less customary role at right-half forward, a strange position for a player with such a cultured left foot. A couple of frees by Mortimer and Alan Dillon reeled in the deficit and surprisingly Donegal led by just 0-7 to 0-5 at halftime.

Mortimer’s fifth free in the 53rd minute leveled matters at 0-9 apiece, and it seemed that yet again Donegal failed to wrap up a game they first dominated.

Both managers made extensive switches, with Thomas Donoghue and Eamon McGee entering the fray in the 46th minute. Kevin O’Neill replaced Michael Conroy but he lost his footing at key moments and failed to make a telling contribution.

Significantly, Mayo never took the lead. With the sides deadlocked Mortimer should have been given a free in front of the posts but referee John Bannon missed the trip by Barry Dunnion.

Instead, Donegal went one ahead and in a key moment, Brady found Moran with a lovely chip over the top. A goal would have really put Mayo in the driving seat but Moran blasted over from eight yards. The point leveled scores once again but Moran was left holding his head in dismay.

The missed opportunity proved critical. O’Mahony’s side seemed to have more energy going into the last quarter but when the game was held up because of a heavy collision injuring Ciaran Bonner, Donegal closed it out in eight minutes added on. Rory Kavanagh and Adrian Sweeney were introduced to good effect.

Mayo’s Trevor Howley, Aidan Kilcoyne and Aidan Campbell also came in late on but Donegal sealed it with a point apiece by three subs –- Kavanagh, McGee and, lastly, a trademark left-footed corkscrew by Sweeney.

Mayo needed a goal but they weren’t going to get it. It’s six years since the Connacht champions won a League title, and although it won’t divert their attentions from facing Galway next month a victory in Croke Park would have been a bonus for O’Mahony’s preparations.

“Before today we already had our plans in place for May 20 and we’ll be fully focused on that now,” said the busy Mayo boss, who is also gearing up as a Fine Gael candidate in the upcoming general election.

“But I’d still have taken the win today with that little extra pressure it might have brought going to Pearse Stadium.”

Ulster champions Armagh are next up for Donegal on May 27 and Gweedore’s Kevin Cassidy added, “I had been hopeful that this year we would retain our division one status, but in my wildest dreams, I didn’t think we would win the League title. As well as being a landmark day for Donegal, today’s win is a great boost for the match against Armagh.”

McIver paid tribute to the strength in depth on his bench and said, “The fact that the last three points were scored by three of our subs shows the strength of our panel.

“Since we lost to Cork in the All-Ireland quarter-final last year we’ve placed a large emphasis in building up our panel and the fruits of that work were seen out there today.

“You have to give credit to Mayo for the way they battled back after a slow start, but maybe we had the greater hunger because Donegal had never won the league before.”

Roscommon 2-13 Cavan 0-14

ROSCOMMON will face Meath in the NFL Division Two final after Saturday night’s semifinals at Croke Park were decided by early goals.

Ger Heneghan struck after five minutes and Cathal Cregg added another 26 minutes later to sink Cavan. Micahel Brennan and Dermot McCabe reduced the deficit to four in the third quarter but Ros dominated midfield through Seamus O’Neill and Michael Finneran.

Brennan’s dismissal 18 minutes from time reduced Cavan to 14 men and from there on it was plain sailing for John Maughan’s side despite late points by Sean Johnston and Larry Reilly . . .

TWO goals inside the opening three minutes ensured a Meath victory over Monaghan. Joe Sheridan and Stephen Bray punished slack defending straight from the throw-in and Monaghan found themselves eight points in arrears by the end of the first quarter.

The Ulster side won loads of possession but nine wides in the first half scuppered any hopes of a comeback. The contest was over well before Peadar Byrne’s third goal made it 3-10 to 0-12 at the finish.

Meath boss Colm Coyle had to watch from the stands. Coyle has lost his appeal against an eight week suspension for the verbal abuse of a linesman during the NFL game against Wicklow and will also have to sit out the Leinster Championship opener against Kildare on May 20.

“Croke Park suggested I should sit there,” Coyle told reporters when asked why he watched the game from the stands.

“I might actually sit up there in future. It’s actually better! We’d kinda spoken about doing it if we got to Croke Park anyway. When I was involved with Sean Boylan as a selector I used to sit up in the stand a lot of it. This time it was enforced but these things happen.

“A referee reckoned I called him something. It wasn’t actually the referee, it was the linesman.” . . .

CORK will meet Laois in the All-Ireland under-21 football championship final. Inspired by Fintan Gould Cork edged Armagh by 0-13 to 0-12 in Portlaoise while Laois had a more comfortable 0-11 to 0-6 win over Mayo in the other semi.