{"id":262696,"date":"2026-01-25T03:57:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T03:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/262696\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T03:57:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T03:57:12","slug":"ger-brennan-era-off-to-losing-start-as-donegal-take-down-dublin-at-croke-park-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/262696\/","title":{"rendered":"Ger Brennan era off to losing start as Donegal take down Dublin at Croke Park \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

NFL Division One: Dublin 0-20 Donegal 1-20<\/p>\n

The Ger Brennan Dublin<\/a> era has begun in a sort of whirlwind fashion. Those being the conditions and the nature of the game in Croke Park on Saturday evening, making it hard to gauge just how good Donegal<\/a> were when only softly blowing them away in the end.<\/p>\n

The wildly wicked conditions did improve marginally over the course of the proceedings, although they were hardly any less testing by the time Luke Breathnach brought it back to a three-point game for Dublin with one minute to go. Their last shot at another comeback simply ran out of time.<\/p>\n

Trailing Donegal by double scores at the break \u2013 1-9 to 0-6 \u2013 Dublin tore into the wind and Donegal in the second half with impressive intent. Breathnach came off the bench at half-time and helped reduce that gap to two points on 41 minutes, 1-10 to 0-11. The comeback looked on \u2013 only that was as close as they got.<\/p>\n

Despite playing into that swirling wind, Donegal kicked on again, the excellent Michael Langan and Daire \u00d3 Baoil leading the way, both kicking two-pointers from play with superb accuracy. Soon Donegal\u2019s advantage was out to eight points again, simply too much for Dublin to close in time.<\/p>\n

Still, they never gave up the chase, Breathnach inspiring with his five points from play, Conor Tyrrell also adding their second two-pointer of the evening.<\/p>\n

Se\u00e1n Bugler, Nathan Doran and Paddy Small also sprang into form for Dublin as they increased the pressure on Donegal, sniffing out a couple of goal chances too. Had one of those been converted it might well have changed the outcome.<\/p>\n

\"Donegal'sDonegal’s Shea Malone celebrates after scoring his side’s goal. Photograph: Tom Maher\/Inpho <\/p>\n

Ultimately Shea Malone\u2019s goal for Donegal at the end of the first half proved the difference, the youngster completing a searing run at goal on 32 minutes, neatly set up by Caolan McGonagle. Donegal finished with 10 different scorers, with Langan the standout player on the night around midfield, finishing with 0-6. <\/p>\n

Back in Croke Park for the first time since losing the All-Ireland final to Kerry last July, Donegal did start with a fair spread of newcomers too, with manager Jim McGuinness also making three late changes, including Langan, who started for Kieran Gallagher.<\/p>\n

Dublin had that wind in their backs in the first half \u2013 most of the time anyway \u2013 as it changed direction on a whim. Ryan McHugh cut through it to open the scoring after minutes, still the man for all seasons.<\/p>\n

There were hints during the week that Dublin would be targeting more two-pointers this season, and Con O\u2019Callaghan soon put that in motion, opening Dublin\u2019s account with one moments later.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Callaghan\u2019s 45-metre free gave Dublin an early cushion, but they struggled to build on that as the wide count quickly mounted on both sides.<\/p>\n

Donegal number two goalkeeper Gavin Mulreany stepped up for a succession of two-pointers as the visitors slowly built some dominance. Conor O\u2019Donnell was particularly lively in the first half, adding two points from play.<\/p>\n

Hugh McFadden\u2019s kick towards Hill 16 on 27 minutes swirled so magnificently far wide it brought sarcastic cheers from the Dublin supporters, who were happy just to have something to shout about.<\/p>\n

\"DublinDublin manager Ger Brennan gestures on the sideline during the game. Photograph: Tom Maher\/Inpho <\/p>\n

Malone\u2019s goal gave Donegal that six-point cushion at the break, before Dublin soon started dismantling it. Bugler also drew a fine save out of Mulreany, as the game increasingly opened up for both sides.<\/p>\n

It had been 17 years since Dublin were last the betting underdogs in a league opener in Croke Park, against Tyrone in 2009. Brennan has assessed around 130 Dublin players since taking charge, and Dublin certainly looked fit and well-conditioned for an opening league match. Professor Niall Moyna, back on board with Brennan as Dublin fitness coach, has wasted no time.<\/p>\n

Dublin\u2019s two debutants Robert Shaw and Eoin Kennedy in the half-back line settled reasonably well, before Brennan replaced them at half-time.<\/p>\n

For Donegal, who had already won the McKenna Cup, it\u2019s an impressive start, beginning the season without Ciar\u00e1n Thompson, who is recovering from an ACL. Patrick McBrearty has retired, while Michael Murphy and Ois\u00edn Gallen are sitting out the early rounds.<\/p>\n

During the post-match interviews, neither Brennan, the Dublin manager, nor Langan, appeared in front of Allianz signage when being interviewed on TG4.<\/p>\n

DUBLIN: E Comerford; E Murchan, S McMahon, D Byrne; R Shaw, N Doran (0-0-2), E Kennedy; E Dunne, T Lahiff; K McGinnis, N Scully, B Howard; P Small (0-0-2), C O\u2019Callaghan (0-2-3, 1 tpf, 1 45), L O\u2019Dell. <\/p>\n

Subs: S Bugler (0-0-1) for O\u2019Dell, L Breathneach (0-0-5) for Lahiff, C O\u2019Connor for Shaw (all h-t); C Tyrrell (0-1-1) for Kennedy (47 mins), P White for Dunne (57).<\/p>\n

DONEGAL: G Mulreany (0-2-0, 2 tpf); C McColgan, B McCole, F Roarty (0-0-1); R McHugh (0-0-1), C McGonagle (0-0-1), P Mogan; H McFadden, J McGee (0-0-1); D O Baoill (0-1-1), S O\u2019Donnell (0-0-1), C Moore; C O\u2019Donnell (0-0-2), M Langan (0-2-2, 1 tpf, 1f), S Malone (1-0-0).<\/p>\n

Subs: E Ban Gallagher for McColgan (48 mins); K Gallagher for Malone (54); T Carr for O Baoil (64); C McCahill for O\u2019Donnell (68 mins).<\/p>\n

Referee: Noel Mooney (Cavan).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NFL Division One: Dublin 0-20 Donegal 1-20 The Ger Brennan Dublin era has begun in a sort of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[6342,2179,61,60,95595,112],"class_list":["post-262696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-donegal-gaa","tag-dublin-gaa","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-national-football-league","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}