DERRY 1-16 DONEGAL 1-14 (AET)
Derry survived a heartstopping finale at Clones this afternoon to land a first Ulster title since 1998 and just an eighth in their entire history.
They certainly didn’t do it the easy way, appearing in their first provincial decider since 2011.
Two goal line clearances from a Michael Murphy piledriver off a free and a Ryan McHugh follow up ensured a first Anglo-Celt Cup came to the Oak Leaf county in 24 years.
In a real dog of a game Derry toughed it out in extra-time with the magnificent Brendan Rogers scoring a third point from play and Conor Glass striking at the death.
Glass also had a chance at the end of full time to win the game, but it tailed left and wide.
It didn’t matter in the end as Rory Gallagher landed his first Ulster title as a manager after losing three previous finals - two with Donegal and one with his native Fermanagh.
Derry now go on to a first All-Ireland quarter-final since 2007, when they lost out to Dublin.
The game was seriously cagey early on with the only discernible match-up, Patrick McBrearty versus Chrissy McKaigue.
The first 15 minutes resembled a 29 man game of backs and forwards.
There was no long kickout until the 18th minute either, meaning there was very little in the way of contact or tackling early on.
At one point early on a two man Donegal inside forward line consisted of Odhran McFadden Ferry and Stephen McMenamin, while at the other end Chrissy McKaigue was full forward early on with Patrick McBrearty on him.
There was nothing between the teams in the first half, with Peadar Mogan, not named but starting, hitting three points to keep Donegal in touch.
Derry forced a series of early errors from Declan Bonner’s side with Caolan McGonigle blocked twice, before feeding Mogan for a point.
Michael Murphy missed two 45s with a chorus of boos ringing in his ears, before finding his range when Derry goalie, Odhran Lynch went long with a kick out.
Murphy field over Conor McCluskey and fired it back with interest.
The key incident of the first half arrived on 13 minutes when Ethan Doherty injected pace, going at Murphy.
His perfectly weighted hand pass inside Odhran McFadden Ferry found Niall Toner.
Toner kept his cool to find Niall Loughlin, who shot to the net.
On 29 minutes Derry led by 1-6 to 0-4, and were in control of the game.
They survived a scare late in the first half when Caolan Ward, who had earlier passed over a couple of opportunities to shoot, had a go on his left.
The effort dropped short and Derry goalie, Lynch clawed it away when he might have caught it.
Michael Langan seemed certain to rattle the net, but he rushed his shot and it went wide.
The pressure Derry were able to get on the shooter in the first half was key, with Conor Glass in particular disciplined in the tackle and always on his opponents toe for the shot.
At half time Derry led by 1-6 to 0-6.
They got off to an terrible start after the break, when Langan blasted a shot from distance straight at Oak Leaf goalie Lynch, who spilled it and McFadden Ferry followed up to hit the net.
McFadden Ferry appeared to be in the square when Langan shot.
Derry were suddenly chasing the game.
Twice in the closing quarter Derry players - Glass and McGuigan - raided in on goal and were pulled down, but referee Hurson kept his black card in his pocket.
Up to that point, Donegal had controlled the second half, but with Brendan Rogers and Ethan Doherty driving them and McGuigan coming into the game Derry clung in there and forced extra-time.
They were the better side in extra-time as Donegal came up short in their bid for a sixth Ulster title in 12 years.
DERRY: O Lynch, C McKaigue, B Rogers (0-3), C McCluskey, C Doherty (0-1), P McGrogan, S Downey (0-1) C Glass (0-1), G McKinless, P Cassidy (0-1), N Loughlin (1-2, 0-1f), E Doherty, N Toner, B Herron, S McGuigan (0-6, 5fs).
SUBS: E Bradley (0-1) for Loughlin (inj) 47mins, L Murray for Heron 64mins, B McCarron for Toner 68mins, P McNeill for Downey, N Toner for Murray 80mins, B Herron for McCarron 80mins, O McWilliams for Doherty (inj) 86mins.
DONEGAL : S Patton, C Ward, B McCole, S McMenamin, R McHugh (0-1), E Ban Gallagher, O McFadden Ferry (1-0), C McGonagle, J McGee (0-2), P Mogan (0-3), S O’Donnell (0-2), M Langan, P McBrearty (0-2, 2fs), M Murphy (0-2), J Brennan.
SUBS : C O’Donnell for Brennan 58mins, A Doherty (0-1, mk) for McFadden Ferry, N O’Donnell for S O’Donnell 72mins, H McFadden for McGee ft, P Brennan for Langan 80mins, C Thompson (0-1) for McGonagle 81mins.
REFEREE: S Hurson (Tyrone)
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