Jim McGuinness’ men led from pillar to post in Croke Park this afternoon with an upset never on the cards for Ger Brennan’s Louth side as Donegal put the foot on the throttle from the start.
Donegal finished with 11 different scorers against Louth, playing in their first All-Ireland quarter-final, and they will prove formidable opponents in the final four as they chase their first Sam Maguire triumph since McGuinness led them to the promised land in 2012.
Donegal raced into a 0-5 to 0-1 lead in jig time with Ryan McHugh and Mogan haring forward from defence, and it looked like it could quickly get away from the underdogs after just 11 minutes.
Sam Mulroy steadied the Louth ship, however, with a neat point and Brennan’s men had the better of it from there until the break with Tommy Durnin influential at midfield.
Points from play via Ryan Burns, Conor Early and flying wing-back Craig Lennon had the deficit back to just one before Ciarán Moore and Durnin, a lovely effort off the outside of his right peg, swapped scores, 0-8 to 0-7.
Amazingly, Donegal had their first free of the game in the 31st minute with Oisín Gallen popping it over and McGuinness’ side had the better of the closing exchanges with Mogan and Gallen helping them into a three-point lead, 0-11 to 0-8.
Louth rued some sloppy handling in the final minutes of the first-half but they gave as good as they got for the most part and were within touching distance coming out after the break.
That continued in the early stages upon the resumption with a few needless spills and Donegal had much the better of the third quarter as they put the foot on Louth’s throat.
Scores were coming at their ease with Mogan continuing his scintillating form in front of the posts while Langan and Gallen were also on the mark as they opened up a seven-point lead, 0-18 to 0-11.
Louth rallied with the next three scores via a pair from Mulroy (one free) and substitute Tom Jackson but Eoghan Bán Gallagher’s scrambled goal just before the hour mark put paid to their challenge, 1-18 to 0-14.
Mogan continued to bomb forward and finished with 0-5 from play in another man-of-the-match performance as Donegal coasted into the last four with another statement of their All-Ireland intent.
Galway, who extinguished Dublin’s hopes of retaining the Sam Maguire Cup yesterday, now stand in their way. The Croke Park showdown will be played on the weekend of July 13/14.
Scorers – Donegal: P Mogan 0-5, O Gallen 0-4 (1f), M Langan 0-3, EB Gallagher 1-0, C Moore, C Thompson, R McHugh 0-2 each, P McBrearty (m), C O’Donnell, A Doherty, C O’Donnell 0-1, J Brennan 0-1 each. Louth: S Mulroy 0-6 (4f), T Durnin 0-4, R Burns, C Byrne 0-2 each, L Jackson, C Lennon, C Early, T Jackson 0-1 each.
Donegal: S Patton; EB Gallagher, B McCole, P Mogan; R McHugh, C McGonagle, C Moore; C Thompson, M Langan; S O’Donnell, C O’Donnell, D Ó Baoill; P McBrearty, O Gallen, N O’Donnell. Subs: A Doherty for N O’Donnell (half-time), C McColgan for Ó Baoill (45), J Mac Ceallbhuí for C O’Donnell (49), J Brennan for McBrearty (59), H McFadden for S O’Donnell (66).
Louth: N McDonnell; D Corcoran, D Campbell, D McKenny; B Duffy, A Williams, C Lennon; T Durnin, C Grimes; L Grey, C Murphy, C McKeever; C Keenan, S Mulroy, R Burns. Subs: C Early for McKeever temp (17), P Matthews for Grey, L Jackson for Burns and T Jackson for Murphy (all 43), C Byrne for Williams (68), T McDonnell for Corcoran (71).
Referee: J McQuillan (Cavan).
