Donegal are Roinn 2 champions beating Meath 1-17 to 1-15 in the Croke Park final on Saturday evening. Trailing by 8 points, 1-6 to 0-1, after 13 minutes the side showed admirable spirit to whittle away Meath’s lead over the next 40 minutes. Approaching the hour mark, a superb team move was finished to the net by Jamie Brennan to give Donegal the lead for the first time and they would not relinquish it, playing “keep ball” over the last 15 minutes. Photographs from the game and its aftermath can be found on Donegal’s Istagram site and will be uploaded to Donegal GAA Facebook this evening.
It was a fitting end to a Roinn 2 campaign that mixed the “ups and the downs” as the squad displayed the character needed to emerge as champions – character encompassing resilience, patience and leadership both on and off the pitch. Successive losses to Tipperary and Fermanagh in February put pressure on the panel but they bounced back with convincing wins against Cork and Kildare and a hard fought victory over Armagh. In Cork, as was the case with Meath last weekend, they did not panic when falling six points behind early in the second half. There is an eight-week break now before the next competitive encounter, May 26th quarterfinal of the Ulster Championship in Brewster Park.
By Sinéad Breen Donegal PRO Mon 1st Apr
