ALL eyes are on Ulster’s big two on Sunday as Donegal and Tyrone collide.

In 2011, Tyrone were the established power in Ulster football and Donegal were seeking to make a name for themselves. A dramatic provincial semi-final saw the tables turned and they’ve remained the most bitter of rivals since. Frank Craig looks back at that day with two of the main protagonists, Dermot ‘Brick’ Molloy and Pascal McConnell

It’s so easy to forget now but it could have been a very different story for Donegal and what would eventually follow had Molloy not intervened in the most spectacular of fashions  late on  in Clones on that cagey and nervous June afternoon.

Nineteen years in the provincial wilderness would have stretched to two full decades. And it’s more than possible the All-Ireland title might never have arrived in 2012. That year, Jim McGuinness’ first, was the building block – the foundation to everything that followed.

Tyrone, with that familiar strut of theirs back then, took ownership of the majority of the first-half and were 0-6 to 0-1 up by the 26th minute. Donegal resembled a willing but completely disorientated rabbit caught in the Red Hand headlights.

Kevin Rafferty and Colm McFadden settled some nerves, but Dermot Molloy says it was Kevin Cassidy’s massive effort on the stroke of half-time that finally shook Donegal and brought them back into contention, somehow chasing just a two-point deficit at the break.

Tyrone’s reputation had been allowed to precede them for much of that opening period and it spooked Donegal. The Brick admits his side were guilty of playing the myth and not the men early on. But that changed following the restart. In the end, it was Molloy’s injury-time goal that gave Donegal a 2-6 to 0-9 win.

There was some degree of sympathy for Tyrone that day as the game slipped away from the then Ulster champions. Watching the likes of Conor Gormley, Owen Mulligan, Stephen O’Neill, Brian McGuigan, Ryan McMenamin and Brian Dooher struggle to muster an energy and synergy that was, for so long, instinctive to their game, it was obvious that careers and an era were also nearing their end.

Pascal McConnell’s recollection of that afternoon is similar to Molloy’s in so many parts. Tyrone and Donegal’s paths had crossed so many times in the previous seasons that he admitted he never knew what to expect from Donegal.

There would be days they’d turn up and put it up. But there were also so many days when Donegal were prepared to throw in the towel all too easily at the first sign of trouble.

June 26, 2011 opened like it was going to be another one of those afternoons. But even when Tyrone were on top, McConnell sensed there was something different about this Donegal under Jim McGuinness.

There was structure, discipline and relentless communication, even though they were under complete siege, that was unfamiliar. Here, both men talk through the game’s defining moments.

13 mins: Owen Mulligan, Sean Cavanagh (free), Phillip Jordan and Brian Dooher are all on the mark inside the opening quarter. Tyrone 0-4:0-0 Donegal.

Molloy: “It was a very nervous start from us. We were fortunate to still be in the game at half-time. Looking back now, there probably still was that little bit of fear within our group. This was Tyrone, they were All-Ireland champions in 2008 and they were going for three in a row at that time in Ulster. We still didn’t maybe believe we were in a position to step up and take them on. That was what was happening in that first-half. It bypassed a lot of our players. We had a defensive shape but we had no movement and we were letting them waltz in.”

McConnell: “On our dominance of play in that first-half the scoreboard certainly didn’t reflect it. Had we gone in with a bigger lead it might have been the end of Donegal. It was the last throw of the dice for that Tyrone side and we felt there was still another big kick in us. We’d big ambitions in 2011. We’d done so much right early on that day. Yeah, we were an ageing side, Mickey Harte had been so loyal to a lot of boys that took to the field against Donegal. But we opened in a really good fashion with the first four points.”

16 mins: 17-year-old Patrick McBrearty finally gets Donegal off the mark. Still, Cavanagh and Stephen O’Neill follow that up and Tyrone stretch their advantage to five by the 26th minute. Mark Sidebottom, on commentary with Peter Canavan for the BBC, tells us the Tyrone support are already singing ‘easy, easy’. Still, Canavan errs on the side of caution and notes that Mickey Harte’s men have already accumulated six wides at that stage. Tyrone 0-6:0-1 Donegal.

Molloy: “They should have had a much bigger lead even at that stage. We got off the mark through Paddy but it was quickly cancelled out. We needed something to spark us and we had that little spell before half-time. Anthony Thompson had a stormer that day. He was the one player bringing the intensity that had been asked of us. He put in a massive block on O’Neill and Kevin Cassidy’s point came from that counter attack. A bit like Paddy McGrath, Tony probably didn’t get the recognition he deserved. But he set the tone at the right time for us.”

McConnell: “I think by that stage we were making some mistakes but Donegal still weren’t really threatening. But we allowed them to hang on in there. But what was noticeable was that this Donegal side were still showing some real bite. Because the Donegal we knew, If we’d gone five up on them before, the towel would have been thrown in. They always capitulated. So something was different already here. There was no doubt, even with a 6-1 lead, that this was a different animal now in front of us.”

32 mins: Kevin Rafferty grabs a second Donegal point while Colm McFadden (free) and a massive Kevin Cassidy effort just before the break somehow takes Donegal back to within two at the midpoint. Tyrone lead but Canavan says Mickey Harte “will be absolutely furious” about that his side’s wastefulness and a closing first-half tally of eight wides. Tyrone 0-6:0-4 Donegal.

Molloy: “Kevin’s point was massive, at the end of the half, in more ways than one. It lifted us. Somehow we were only two behind. Jim (McGuinness) got us in and laid it on the line for us. It was a s***show, those were his words. All the hard work, and we worked ourselves into the ground, were we just going to roll over and not dig into that energy reserve and let it be the same old story? We could easily have found ourselves seven, eight or even nine points down. Bread and butter chances went a begging for them. It kept us in the game.”

McConnell: “At 0-6 to 0-4 we weren’t happy. Because we knew we were now in for an almighty battle in the second-half. Jim McGuinness now had these boys playing for him. Remember the low ebb Donegal had found themselves in up in Crossmaglen, hammered by Armagh, that was only a year before. They couldn’t have sunk any lower. But McGuinness had come in and whipped them into a frenzy. Jim came in a with a mission and that vigour and steel that was the hallmark thereafter was now rearing its head for the very first time. These lads weren’t blinking now. They used to wilt, disintegrate. The fight would always go and it would go very early sometimes as well. But at half-time, we knew we were in a game. These lads were welcoming the challenge of what we were throwing at them.”

50 mins: Michael Murphy and Peter Harte had swapped efforts right after the restart but a massive moment came in the 50th minute when a clumsy but unintentional intervention from Leo McLoone ended Joe McMahon’s afternoon prematurely. Tyrone 0-7:0-5 Donegal.

Molloy: “Yeah, that was a turning point. It disrupted the balance of things for them. Joe was such a focal point and leader. He was massive. It was the first of a number of setbacks for Tyrone all in and around the space of a few minutes.”

McConnell: “This was the reality check and maybe even the turning of the tide. We suffered a goal and then we lost Kevin (Hughes). This was a matter of minutes. Big Joe brought so much calmness and organisation to our defence. When you gave Joe a job to do he stuck to it was relish. His job that day was to nullify the threat of Murphy. And he was doing that well at that stage. I remember, as a young lad, he was thrown into the edge of the square to mark Declan O’Sullivan in the All-Ireland final. He did that brilliantly. He never gave away the ball and he was also such a huge physical presence. It certainly coincided with the way things would unravel.”

57 mins: Murphy and O’Neill are on the mark with subsequent frees. But on 57 minutes Donegal find the breakthrough they need when Colm McFadden, with a little help from Ryan McMenamin’s backside, goals for Donegal and they lead for the very first time. Donegal 1-6:0-8 Tyrone.

Molloy: “The first goal was another one of those huge turning points. Karl Lacey made one of those great runs and he popped it off to Colm (McFadden). Colm still had a little bit to do but he weaved inside and he actually finished it with his right foot. Right then, you could feel around the ground that the wind had been knocked out of them – inside and outside of the wire. It was a turning point for Donegal. We were now showing what we were about under Jim.”

McConnell: “The first goal handed them the lead for the first time. They’d come back at us and it really opened our eyes to the situation we’d now found ourselves in. The turnaround they made from the first-half was remarkable. The wheels came off the wagon for us. And perhaps that was the first nail in the coffin for that fabulous team we had.”

62 mins: Kevin Hughes is shown a second yellow card and is dismissed. A minute later, McGuinness springs Molloy in place of McLoone and gives him a particular set of orders.

Molloy: “It felt like I’d been warming up for ages at that stage. Big Hub

was sent off and with us getting on top, we felt energised. Everything they tried to do was going wrong. Peter Harte was missing handy frees and mentally, the momentum had swung. It was in complete contrast to the first-half. We emptied ourselves into those last minutes. But Martin Penrose just crept up on the outside and hit a leveller in injury time.

McConnell: “Hub picked up a second yellow in the middle of everything. And Donegal could sense a real opportunity now. He was such a fierce competitor and again, another one of those lads that gave us physical presence. It was another massive blow so quickly after we lost Joe. We were the first to taste that new mental toughness that McGuinness brought to this Donegal. Seeing what they would go onto achieve, so much of it came to the surface for the first time that day in that second-half in Clones. And it was of no surprise to me what they would go onto do in 2012 off the back of that day.”

73 mins: With 1-6 up against 0-9 and with three of the four minutes of added time up, this one looked like it was going to go the distance. A terrible ball from McBrearty towards Murphy is cut out by Martin Swift. Murphy clatters into the Tyrone man unceremoniously but fairly. The ball spills and in an instant Murphy sends the lurking Molloy through on goal…

Molloy: “It was a massive hit from Murphy. But it was on the money. The Penrose score, Davy Harte had been bombing up the field. I was on him when I came on. I just decided to stay up, let him go. It was a risk but I took it. Paddy’s ball wasn’t the best. But Murphy was so strong he disposed the man (Swift) and he also took out Ricey I think. I was where I’d decided to be. I was all alone. The ball was gifted to me. At the time, it did feel like it was just myself and Pascal inside Clones. That space was between us. I’ve always been a player that backed himself in that position, in front of goal. I knew he was going to go where I was going to put it. Going across myself, and looking for that bottom right corner, I just needed to make sure the power was there. It was low enough and hard enough that it went in. It shows me pointing over to Jim right after on camera. But that was just me acknowledging what he’d told me to do. He said ‘get me a goal’ just before I went on. It was a surreal moment. It was such a special day for the team and even for myself to hit the winning score. There are nights I do often think about what might have happened had I missed or Pascal had got a better hand on it. God knows, maybe if it had gone to a replay we might have been beat. And who knows how everything else might have panned out with 2012 and so on. But I was just so relieved to see it hit the net.”

McConnell: “I can still see it all. It’s so clear. Myself and Brick did a talk night down in Killygordon a few years back and we had a good talk about those seconds. It felt like an eternity, that passage. And he said the same thing. We both had so much time to think about it and face it up from our own ends. One second we’ve cut out possession and it looks like we’re on the counter. Possession at that stage, with the sides level, was massive. But Murphy collides with Marty Swift and the ball breaks loose. The instinct is to get out, get the angle narrowed right away. Brick likes the left peg he’s veering a little across just a little to make that favoured shot for himself. I told him in Killygordon that I knew where he was going – that he was going low and he was going with power. It hit me in the ribcage and what I still curse is the deluge of rain that had fallen as it hit he ground and skimmed on in. But it was a killer finish and I always say, from a Donegal perspective, it fell to the right man.”

Molloy’s intervention heralded the dawn of a new era for Donegal, but it also signalled the end of one for that Tyrone. With a plucky but ordinary-enough Derry waiting in the wings in the decider, you felt the Ulster Championship that season was decided there and then.

Had Tyrone been more efficient in front of the posts in that first-half and fully triggered the doubts that McGuinness’  Donegal, in its infancy, must still have harboured, who knows what might have materialised for McConnell and his county thereafter that very same year. So much water has passed under the bridge in the nine seasons since.

But the delicate balance of the rivalry that first reared its head that day remains on a knife edge since. Sunday’s latest instalment, both men agree, appears to be another one of those 50/50 encounters. And whoever prevails should take another Ulster title. And in this strangest of seasons, blighted by Covid-19, who knows what could happen after that.

Molloy: “I was impressed by Donegal last week against Tyrone. They struggled to break us down. Murphy Ryan McHugh and Kieran Thompson were excellent that day. Saturday in Kerry, it was always going to be an awkward one for Donegal. We didn’t want to lose any players. Lads were given a run. Of course we’re going to be weakened when we leave a lot of first teamers out. Tyrone had a great result in Mayo. Their tails are up now. I’m really looking forward to it. It’s going to be a massive game. So much is on the line. It’s not like other years, there is no second chance. It’s do or die. Please god it’s Donegal that get over the line.”

McConnell: “From a Tyrone perspective, they will take a lot of positives out of Mayo last weekend. They bounced back from the result in Ballybofey and, under pressure, showed real character. I think the physio table is vacant and not as busy as we’d have feared this week. So much was on the line for both sides in Mayo that it was the closest to a Championship game as we could have got. The benefits of that are massively positive. They went to McHale Park and did what they needed to do. That will provide a great lift going into Sunday and Donegal again. From a Tyrone perspective, Conor McKenna looks like something special. It’s just a pity he won’t be linking up with Cathal McShane this season. That will have to wait.”