Tyrone stun Donegal as Peter Harte hands Jim McGuinness first Ballybofey loss

The Irish Sun

24-05-2025

JIM McGuinness was beaten in Ballybofey as Donegal manager for the first time in league or championship as Peter Harte's two-pointer sealed a dramatic Tyrone win.
Malacy O'Rourke - the only man to beat McGuinness in six seasons in the Ulster SFC with Monaghan in 2013 - saw his team lead the way for the most part and then stave off a late
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Tyrone stunned the Ulster champions as they fell to defeat at home for the first time in sixteen games
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Tyrone manager Malachy O'Rourke shakes hands with Donegal manager Jim McGuinness after his side's win
Peter Harte's two-pointer with three minutes to play finally swung it Tyrone's way.
And a late Cormac Quinn point put the seal on a three-point win for McGuinness's first loss in 16 at MacCumhaill Park, in his two stints stretching back to 2011.
Harte's score was reminiscent of the 2016 belter in
On an evening for ponchos, sunglasses and woolly hats, the weather was unpredictable and on the field, things were probably going against the grain as well.
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While Donegal edged their way past Armagh on a 2-23 to 0-18 scoreline in the Ulster SFC two weeks ago.
Tyrone had been watching on, having run the
But the result shows that you can never get too far ahead of yourself in the northern province and the teams who go deep into it come away with bumps and bruises.
With Shaun Patton having put in a decent warm-up but missing out with an ankle injury.
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Donegal had lost a foundation from the restarts and Tyrone's Seanie O'Donnell's two first-half goals gave Tyrone a foothold from which they could climb.
The first of those came on eight minutes when he punched past Gavin Mulreany when Caolan McGonagle failed to get a proper hold of a raking ball in from Michael McKernan.
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O'Donnell seemed to be popping up here, there, and everywhere and on 24 minutes he scored his second.
This time he came from deep on the run and with Mark Bradley supplying the lay-off, went for power and although Mulreany got something behind it, he couldn't stop it going home due to its sheer power.
Donegal were 2-3 to 0-4 down, at sixes and sevens, and Tyrone looked dangerous time and again. Michael Murphy was the one the bulk of those in the home support of 16,120 turned to and Michael Murphy was the one who delivered.
Two monster frees against the wind - both worth two in the current currency as they say these days - were meat and drink for the Tiktokers.
But Donegal were clawing their way back.
Darren McCurry, with a two-pointer, and Kieran McGeary hit two late first-half points for the visitors, with Tyrone going in 2-7 to 0-11 in front.
A Ciaran Thompson point took Donegal back to within one, but the moving quarter didn't happen.
They would post four wides in succession, and Tyrone would post four points to move into a five-point lead of 2-11 to 0-12.
Ben McDonnell, Darragh Canavan and their scoring constant, McCurry, was the one to help things tick along in times of trouble.
Murphy, 11 minutes after Donegal's only second-half score, was typically the man to get them going, with another two-pointer from a free.
If the 2012 All-Ireland winning captain was almost single-handedly keeping his team in it, Langan was certainly the one playing the support act.
A minute later, by now at the midpoint of the second half, he slung over from outside the arc and Donegal were back to just the one down again, before Langan himself equalised.
The trajectory now seemed to be Donegal's and second half substitute Patrick McBrearty lamped over another two-pointer and Donegal were 0-20 to 2-12 in front woith just eight left.
But when it was in the melting pot, it was Tyrone who graped the initiative to post a huge win.
With Cavan winning in Mayo last week to instantly scattered the pigeons and two into one never going to happen with Donegal and Tyrone. Things might not always turn out as they seem.
DONEGAL 0-20
TYRONE 2-17
Donegal: G Mulreany; F Roarty, B McCole, E Gallagher; R McHugh (0-1), C McGonagle, C Moore; H McFadden, M Langan (0-7); D Ó Baoill, C Thompson (0-2, 1f), S O'Donnell; C O'Donnell, M Murphy (0-8, 3 2pt f, 1f, 1 '45), O Gallen. Subs: O McFadden-Ferry for McGonagle (31). Subs: E McHugh for Ó Baoill (half-time), P McBrearty (0-2) for McFadden (42), P Mogan for O'Donnell (50), O Doherty for Gallagher (60).
Tyrone: N Morgan; C Quinn (0-1), P Hampsey, N Devlin; M McKernan (0-1), R Brennan, K McGeary (0-1); B Kennedy, C Kilpatrick; S O'Donnell (2-0), M Donnelly, C Daly (0-1); D McCurry (0-7, 1 2pt f, 2f), M Bradley (0-1), D Canavan (0-2f). Subs: B McDonnell (0-1) for Kennedy (h-r), P Harte (0-2) for Donnelly (53), E McElholm for Bradley (55), F Burns for Brennan (57).
Referee: M McNally (Monaghan)