Senior footballers progress to semi-final

DUBLIN 1-15 DONEGAL 1-10

Dublin are in their seventh All-Ireland SFC semi-final in-a-row following Saturday's five-point victory over Donegal in Croke Park in front of a full-house of 82,300.

The Dubs held the upperhand for most of the game but had to battle to the finish with the sending off of Diarmuid Connolly (45th minute) and in the dying minutes Eoghan O'Gara seeing them progress despite Donegal's numerical superiority.

Jim Gavin's men now face Kerry on August 28 in a repeat of last year's final as they attempt to defend the Sam Maguire.

Dublin led 0-9 to 0-4 at the break and it could have been more.

Diarmuid Connolly struck two sublime first half points, one of either foot from long-range, but spurned two first half goal chances which would nearly have had Dublin out of sight by the interval.

The attack was functioning well despite Donegal's defensive tactics with Dean Rock composed on the frees while Paddy Andrews slotted one first half point from a very difficult angle.

Dublin's defence also stood strong with deadball situations Donegal's primary source of scores while Ciarn Kilkenny controlled the tempo of the game from the middle sector.

The Dubs restarted the second half well with the highly influential Kevin McManamon on the mark and soon after Dean Rock converted a free following hard graft by his Ballymun Kickhams club-mate John Small.

Paddy McBrearty replied with a Donegal point before disaster struck for Dublin - a misplaced Cian O'Sullivan foot pass conceded possession and the Ulster men swarmed forward concluding with Ryan McHugh palming the ball to the net.

Suddenly it was a three-point game - 0-11 to 1-5 - despite Dublin's dominance.

Dean Rock steadied Dublin will a fine free before the second whammy to Dublin's chances when Diarmuid Connolly was dismissed in the 45th minute.

With ten minutes of normal time left Kevin McManamon, off his left, pushed Dublin 0-13 to 1-6 clear.

Four minutes earlier Paul Mannion had been introduced as a sub and he was to have a telling impact over the conclusion of the game.

The Kilmacud Crokes man fired a point and late on settled any Dublin nerves with a superb goal and he carved his way through the Donegal defence before sliding the ball low to the net as Dublin's great show of character saw them progress to a meeting with the Kingdom.

SCORERS - Dublin: D Rock 0-5 (0-4f, 0-1 '45'), P Mannion 1-1, K McManamon 0-3, D Connolly 0-2, C Kilkenny, P McMahon, P Andrews, J Cooper 0-1 each. Donegal: M Murphy 0-6 (0-5f, 0-1 '45'), R McHugh 1-0, P McBrearty 0-3 (0-2f), A Thompson 0-1.

DUBLIN: S Cluxton; P McMahon, J Cooper, D Byrne; C Kilkenny, C O'Sullivan, J Small; B Fenton, MD Macauley; P Flynn, K McManamon, D Connolly; D Rock, P Andrews, B Brogan. Subs: D Daly for Brogan (48 mins), D Bastick for Macauley (53), P Mannion for Andrews (56), E O'Gara for McManamon (68), E Lowndes for Rock (73), M Fitzsimnons for Fenton (bc, 76).

DONEGAL: M McGinley; P McGrath, N McGee, E McGee; R McHugh, K Lacey, F McGlynn; R Kavanagh, O MacNiallais;A Thompson, M McElhinney, E McHugh; P McBrearty, M Murphy, M O'Reilly. Subs: C Gillespie for MacNiallais (ht), L McCloone for Kavanagh (42), C Toye for Thomson (46), C Thompson for McElhinney (61), C McFadden for Lacey (71).

REF: C Branagan (Down).