By Francis Mooney
Donegal manager Rory Gallagher hailed Paddy McBrearty’s finest hour, proclaiming that his display in the Round 4B Qualifier win over Cork was his best ever in the county colours.
The Kilcar man hit 11 points in the 0-21 to 1-15 success with a virtuoso exhibition of finishing at Croke Park yesterday, missing just once from a dozen shots at the posts as Donegal booked an All-Ireland quarter-final slot and a clash with the Dubs next weekend.
“He was very sharp today, he was hungry, he was accurate, and he was probably relieved to get out of Ulster and be able to express himself,” said Gallagher. “He’s a very talented player and he’s capable of those things.”
The Tir Chonaill boss felt that McBrearty’s display at GAA headquarters was a personal best.
“He wouldn’t have gone to that level. He was exceptional, his ball-winning, his decision and his finishing were top-class.”
Gallagher felt that McBrearty (pictured) was able to profit from the extra attention given to skipper Michael Murphy by the Cork defence.
“There’s an awful lot of focus on Michael, a lot of teams put wo players on him, and today Patrick was able to exploit that. We were delighted that in the first half, when Cork were clearly the better team, he kept us in it.”
Gallagher was disappointed that Cork were able to cut swathes through a anormally water-tight Donegal defence to pick off scores in the first half.
“It was disappointing, they were opening us up far too easily, it took us too long to get to the pitch of the game, and in the second half we decided we had to wrestle some control of it.”
Cork manager Peadar Healy rued the missed opportunities that cost his side in the end.
“They ground us down, and we missed too many chances. We should have shown more composure, but Donegal deserved to win,” he said.
“Having said that, we just couldn’t get a hand on McBrearty either. He was exceptionally good, we tried three or four fellows marking him.”
And when the Rebels fell behind, Donegal were able to exploit the spaces left at the back.
“The game opened up, because we had to chase it, and that left us open at the back.”
