Donegal 3-18
Mayo 0-21
DONEGAL HAVE WON the Nicky Rackard Cup for the third time after a late scoring burst in today’s final at Croke Park saw them overcome Mayo.
Goals made the difference for the Ulster side, who were also champions in 2013 and ’18.
With four minutes of normal time remaining, Mayo were a point to the good. A goal from Tipperary native Davin Flynn then fired Donegal into the lead, before the man from Roscrea – who finished with 1-3 – teed up Ritchie Ryan to raise another green flag. A ninth point of the game from Declan Coulter capped the victory for Mickey McCann’s side.
A poor start from Donegal allowed Mayo to take a commanding lead. The Connacht outfit were 0-11 to 0-3 ahead midway through the first half, with Shane Boland – who ended the game with a personal tally of 0-11 – deadly accurate from placed balls.
However, Donegal rallied by registering 1-5 in the final 10 minutes of the opening period, the goal coming via Joe Boyle, which cut Mayo’s lead to three points by the interval.
It was a nip-and-tuck affair after Donegal drew level on 46 minutes, but thanks to their crucial scores in the closing stages they pipped Mayo to the win.
Scorers for Donegal: Declan Coulter 0-9 (7fs), Davin Flynn 1-3, Joe Boyle 1-1, Ritchie Ryan 1-0, Danny Cullen 0-3, Ronan McDermott and Gerard Gilmore 0-1 each.
Scorers for Mayo: Shane Boland 0-11 (10fs), Brian Morley and Cathal Freeman 0-2 each, Sean Kenny (65), Eoin Delaney, Jason Coyne, Adrian Phillips, Sean Regan and Corey Scahill 0-1 each.
Donegal
Luke White
Mark Callaghan
Stephen Gillespie
Gavin Browne
Michael Donaghue
Sean McVeigh
Joe Boyle
Ciaran Mathewson
Danny Cullen
Ronan McDermott
Jack O’Loughlin
Kevin Kealy
Davin Flynn
Declan Coulter
Gerard Gilmore
Subs
Ritchie Ryan for Kealy (29)
Bernard Lafferty for Mathewson (62)
Conor O’Grady for Cullen (74)
Mayo
Gerald Kelly
Gary Nolan
Stephen Coyne
John Cassidy
Brian Hunt
David Kenny
Cathal Freeman
Sean Regan
Sean Kenny
Adrian Philips
Shane Boland
Corey Scahill
Jason Coyne
Brian Morley
Eoin Delaney
Subs
Liam Lavin for J Coyne (51)
Cormac Phillips for Delaney (54)
Daniel Huane for Hunt (64)
Sean Mulroy for Morley (66)
Referee: Kevin Jordan (Tipperary)
