McKenna Cup: Holiday is over for Donegal

January 10, 2013

Fermanagh's Ryan McCluskey with Donegal's Caolan Ward during the Mckenna Cup game at Brewster Park. INPHO
FERMANAGH 2-15
DONEGAL 2-7

Reality set in for All-Ireland champions Donegal who lost to Fermanagh in their McKenna Cup opener at Brewster Park last night.

24 hours after returning from a holiday to Dubai, Jim McGuinness' men finished second best in their season opener but the Donegal boss won't have lost any sleep over the result as not one of his All-Ireland winning heroes featured in the defeat.

McGuinness handed debuts to former Hibernian professional soccer player Packie Mailey at midfield as well as defenders Kevin McFadden, Ciaran Cannon and forwards Sean McGarvey and William Gillespie in front of an attendance of 1,530.

Peter Canavan's side formed a guard of honour as Donegal entered the field but the hospitality ended there as Daryl Keenan's 5th minute goal boosted the hosts to a 1-6 to 0-4 interval lead.

Played in freezing fog, Tomas Corrigan struck for his side's second goal in the 45th minute before two goals in as many minutes from Adrian Hanlon and Dermot Molloy put some respectability to the scoreline from Donegal's perspective.

Fermanagh - C Snow; R McCluskey, A McGuinness, J Woods (0-1); D McCusker, B Cox, D Kelly; J Sherry (0-1), S Lyons (0-1); T McElroy, S McCabe, E Donnelly; P Ward (0-5), D Keenan (1-1), K Connor (0-1). Subs: M O'Brien (0-1) for Kelly, T Corrigan (1-0) for K Connor, S Quigley (0-3) for Lyons, M McGrath (0-1) for T Corrigan, N Bogue for B Cox.

Donegal - M Boyle; K McFadden, C Cannon, T McKinley; L Keaney, S McGowan (0-1), M Boyle; R Wherity, P Malley; D McLaughlin, G McFadden (0-4), S Griffin (0-1); S McGarvey, A Hanlon (1-0), W Gillespie. Subs: C Ward for Malley, D Molloy (1-1) for S McGarvey, L Kelly for Wherity.

Referee - M Sludden.

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