Donegal 3-14
Dublin 0-17

Massive underdogs Donegal produced a phenomenal performance to dethrone Dublin in a breath-taking contest to set up an All-Ireland final showdown with Kerry on September 21.

With 81,500 spellbound spectators watching on at Croke Park, the Ulster champions achieved what many felt was impossible by beating a Dublin team that had won all of their championship games to date in a canter and were unbackable favourites for Sam.

Ryan McHugh scored two goals either side of half-time, while the much-criticised Colm McFadden also rattled the net in the second half as the Ulster champions tore up the script with a performance full of courage, determination and no little amount of skill to reach their second All-Ireland final in three years.

No-one could have predicted this result, especially after Dublin had raced into a 0-7 to 0-2 lead after 19 minutes thanks to some splendid long-range score-taking. But Donegal finished the half with a flourish to lead by 1-8 to 0-10 at the break, and they never looked back after man of the match McHugh palmed home his second goal three minutes into the second period.

As Dublin's composure visibly drained from them and panic set in, Donegal didn't let up and the game was effectively ended as a contest when McFadden casually added their third goal in the 46th minute. Alarming gaps appeared in the Dublin defence and such was Donegal's stranglehold on the game that their star-studded bench was, for once, unable to make an impact as they crashed to their first championship defeat under Jim Gavin's watch.

Both teams made two late changes to their starting line-ups. Jack McCaffrey and Cormac Costello replaced Nicky Devereux and Kevin McManamon in the Dublin side, while Rory Kavanagh and David Walsh started for Donegal in place of Christy Toye and Paddy McBrearty.

Kavanagh made an immediate impact by winning a first-minute free which Michael Murphy pointed and resulted in an early yellow card for James McCarthy. Dublin's first attack produced the equaliser from Paul Flynn and Bernard Brogan nudged them in front for the first time moments later.

Diarmuid Connolly and Flynn kicked further long-range points to extend the All-Ireland champions' lead to 0-4 to 0-1 with barely six minutes played. Neil Gallagher picked up the game's second yellow card for wrestling Rory O'Carroll to the ground off the ball before the first goal-scoring opportunity fell to Bernard Brogan.

Eoghan O'Gara unselfishly played the ball across to him, but under pressure from Eamon McGee, the former Footballer of the Year was unable to apply the finish and the danger was cleared.

Donegal were struggling to stay in the game at this stage, but a Karl Lacey point after a trademark foray forward gave them hope. However, Dublin's ability to kick long-range points saw them beat the blanket defence time and again.

In the space of three minutes, they had surged into a five-point lead thanks to Flynn's third point, Connolly's second and another from corner back Philly McMahon. Michael Murphy kept Donegal in it with a superb free from close to the Cusack Stand sideline in the 21st minute, only for Alan Brogan to cancel it after collecting Stephen Cluxton's pin-point kick-out and taking a return pass from O'Gara.

Rory Kavanagh landed Donegal's third point before goalkeeper Paul Durcan came to their rescue with a vital save from Connolly in the 25th minute. When Connolly waltzed through for his third point to restore Dublin's five-point advantage, the signs looked ominous for Donegal, but they responded with an unanswered 1-4 between the 28th and 35th minutes to turn the game on its head…

Just on as a substitute for David Walsh, Christy Toye set up Ryan McHugh for a point to start the scoring sequence. The industrious Odhran MacNiallias added another before Michael Murphy got his first from play after dropping one short moments earlier.

Two minutes before half-time, Donegal took the lead for the first time since the first minute when Ryan McHugh raised his first green flag. A long ball in from Kavanagh was broken down by Murphy into the path of Colm McFadden who teed up the elusive Kilcar man for a low finish that the back-pedaling Rory O'Carroll was unlucky not to keep out.

The Ulster champions had the bite between their teeth now as McFadden tapped over a free after MacNiallias was fouled. Dublin went 10 minutes without scoring before the ever-reliable Flynn left the minimum in it at half-time.

The Metropolitans introduced Nicky Devereux for the ineffective McCaffrey for the second half, but were rocked back on their heels for a second time in the 38th minute when the raiding Anthony Thompson centred for the unmarked McHugh to flick home his second goal.

McHugh then set up McFadden for a fisted point which could just as easily have been a goal as the underdogs threatened to run riot.

The Brogan brothers, Alan and Bernard, steadied Dublin with a brace of points as Costello made way for McManamon. But the momentum remained with Donegal as corner back Frank McGlynn pointed on the counterattack and McFadden then sold Cluxton a dummy before walking the ball into an empty net after being set up by McNiallias.

When McFadden added a free in the 48th minute, Donegal were - unbelievably - eight points to the good, 3-11 to 0-12. But there was still time for Dublin as Connolly and Bernard Brogan (free) reduced the arrears to six.

The rampaging McHugh was then denied his hat-trick when Cluxton tipped over his rasping shot for a point. Substitute Paddy Andrews replied with a good point for the Dubs who narrowed the gap further from a Connolly free after Paul Flynn was deemed to have been fouled just outside the large parallelogram in the 57th minute.

The men from the capital were given further hope when Donegal full back Neil McGee was shown a black card a minute later, with Declan Walsh coming on to replace him. But the North-Westerners didn't flinch one bit as substitute Paddy McBrearty took centre stage with two mighty scores into Hill 16 in the 59th and 63rd minutes.

By now, Dublin were panic-stricken as illustrated by poor wides from Michael Darragh Macauley and Connolly. Paddy Andrews got his second point before McManamon blazed a late goal chance wide.

At the final whistle, Donegal celebrated like they did in 2012 and who could blame them!

Donegal - P Durcan; E McGee, N McGee, P McGrath; A Thompson, K Lacey (0-1), F McGlynn (0-1); N Gallagher, O MacNiallais (0-1); David Walsh, L McLoone, R McHugh (2-2); R Kavanagh (0-1), M Murphy (0-3, 0-2f), C McFadden (1-3, 0-2f). Subs: C Toye for David Walsh, P McBrearty (0-2) for L McLoone, Declan Walsh for N McGee (BC), M McElhinney for R Kavanagh, D O'Connor for C McFadden, M O'Reilly for O MacNiallais, P McGrath (BC).

Dublin - S Cluxton; M Fitzsimons, R O'Carroll, P McMahon (0-1); J McCarthy, J Cooper, J McCaffrey; M D Macauley, C O'Sullivan; P Flynn (0-4), A Brogan (0-2), D Connolly (0-5, 1f); C Costello, E O'Gara, B Brogan (0-3, 1f). Subs: N Devereux for J McCaffrey, K McManamon for C Costello, D Rock for E O'Gara, P Andrews (0-2) for A Brogan, D Daly for J Cooper, P Mannion for C O'Sullivan.

Referee - J McQuillan.

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