Donegal 1-11
Cavan 0-10

Brendan McNelis' 38th minute goal proved decisive as Donegal relieved Cavan of their Ulster MFC crown in yesterday's preliminary round tie at Kingspan Breffni Park.

Parading many of last year's Ulster winners, Cavan came into the game as warm favourites and everything appeared to be going according to script when they opened up a 0-3 to 0-0 lead after five minutes, despite playing against the wind. But Donegal then suddenly burst into life as points from midfielder McNelis and full forward Willie Gillespie helped them to a 0-8 to 0-4 interval lead.

The hosts scored three points from play inside the first five minutes of the second half before their momentum was well and truly broken when McNelis fielded a high Conor Harkin centre before firing home the only goal in the 38th minute. When Ryan McHugh - son of 1992 All-Ireland winner Martin - tagged on a brilliant point, the visitors were 1-10 to 0-7 in front and destined for a home quarter-final against Derry.

SCORERS - Donegal: B McNelis 1-1, R McHugh 0-4 (2f), W Gillespie, D Mulgrew 0-2 each, C Harkin, A McGinley 0-1 each; Cavan: C Madden 0-3, A Graham 0-2 (2f), S Gilcreest, N Walsh, E Flanagan, V Coyle and B Kiernan 0-1 each.

DONEGAL - D Mullarkey; G Kelly, C Parke, J Rose; S McBrearty, M Gallagher, D Mulgrew; B McNelis, R McNamee; C Harkin, J McGarvey, A McGinley; R McHugh, W Gillespie, E McHugh. Subs: H McFadden for McNelis (44); C Gallagher for McGinley (50); N Breslin for Gallagher (53); S Fitzgerald for Harkin (62).

CAVAN - S Rooney; A Watson, C Smith, F Reilly; B Fortune, C Brady, G Smith; M Argue, S Gilcreest; A Brown, J McCabe, E Flanagan; N Walsh, C Madden, A Graham. Subs: V Coyle for Brown (14); L Buchanan for McCabe (h-t), B Kiernan for Gilcreest (h-t), P Faulkner for Fortune (42).

REF - N Cullen (Fermanagh) Tweet

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