Spillane hits late to sink Donegal

Donegal fans in fine voice in Croke Park.

A point two minutes into added time from centre-back Ger Spillane saw Cork steal a win against Donegal to earn a place in the All-Ireland semi-final.
It was always asking a lot of the second match at Croke Park to live up the brilliance of the Kerry-Armagh clash and so it proved to be as this game produced a below standard first half before it took an upturn after the break. That won’t worry Cork one iota but they’ll know that another display like that they produced early on could prove fatal.
Cork made one late change to their starting line up with Fintan Gould coming in for Kevin Niblock. It was Donegal however, who made the better start.
Rory Kavanagh ran down the wing and fired over in style in the first minute and three minutes later they grabbed a goal. Michael Doherty fired in a long range free which Kavanagh knocked back across goal for Christy Toye to fist to the net.
Cork looked completely rudderless at this stage with Karl Lacey completely nullifying the threat of James Masters, but they got the break they so badly needed when Nicholas Walsh won a penalty.
The big midfielder appeared to be charging but referee Tomas Quigley awarded the spot kick after the Cork player hit the deck in a challenge with Barry Monaghan. John Hayes stood up and casually stroked the ball to the net despite goalkeeper Paul Durcan getting a hand to the ball.
Donegal bounced back from that setback, which was no surprise given their near total dominance, with points from Leon Thompson and a Doherty ’45. Indeed Thompson should have scored a goal as he was clean through with only the ’keeper to beat but chipped his effort over the bar.
Hayes got Cork’s first score from play after 24 minutes but immediately afterwards Thompson scored again – a point given only after a long consultation between the umpires – and a fine Dunnion point put the beaten Ulster finalists 1-5 to 1-1 ahead with 29 minutes played.
Cork looked dead on their feet but a late Masters free and a good score from Gould meant that just two points separated the sides at the break, 1-5 to 1-3.
Michael Doherty stretched the lead to three immediately after the restart but Cork upped the tempo, something we didn’t think possible given their first half display. Four points in as many minutes put the Munster champions ahead for the first time in the game.
Ger Spillane started the scoring spree with a fisted point and further efforts from Pierce O’Neill, Masters and Donnacha O’Connor lifted the Rebel side.
Donegal needed to respond and Brian McIver immediately made a change bringing on Colin Kelly for Michael Hegarty in an attempt to stem the dominance of Cork’s Spillane at centre back.
That move bore fruit as Donegal hit back with three consecutive points through Monaghan, a Doherty free and a wonderful effort from Kelly putting the green and golds 1-9 to 1-7 in front.
Kevin McMahon and Ciaran Bonner exchanged points to still leave two points between the sides before Masters and Sean O’Brien drew the teams level once more as the game entered the final ten minutes.
With two minutes to go Adrian Sweeney - just on the field - had a chance to grab the lead but was off target with a free from distance
As time ran out Donegal lost possession and Cork lobbed a long ball into the square which Nicholas Murphy brilliantly fielded. The midfielder popped the ball back to Spillane who fired over to put Cork ahead two minutes into added time.
Donegal then won a free 55 metres out but Doherty’s free fell short and the final whistle then went, setting up another meeting between Cork and Kerry.

Cork: A Quirke, M Prout, D Kavanagh, K O’Connor, M Shields, G Spillane 0-2, A Lynch, N Murphy, P O’Neill 0-1, S O’Brien 0-1, F Gould 0-1, K McMahon 0-1, J Masters 0-3, 2 frees, D O’Connor 0-1, free, J Hayes 1-1, pen. Subs: S Murphy for Prout, C McCarthy for Gould, K O’Sullivan for Hayes, D Goulding for Kevin McMahon
Donegal: P Durcan; N McGee, E McGee, K Lacey; T Donoghue, B Monaghan 0-1, B Dunnion 0-1; N Gallagher, B Boyle; C Bonner 0-1, M Hegarty, R Kavanagh 0-1; L Thompson 0-2, C Toye 1-0, M Doherty 0-3, frees. Subs: C Kelly 0-1 for Hegarty, S McHugh for Kavanagh, S McDermott for Boyle, A Sweeney for Thompson. Referee: T Quigley (Dublin)
Hogan Stand

Barry Monaghan has this situation under control.