38 SPORT Friday, December 27, 2013 SPORTS REVIEW – AUGUST

Physio Donal Reid consoles Ryan McHugh at the final whistle after a resounding defeat by Mayo in Croke park during the All- quarter final. Photo: Donna McBride

Donegal made a tame exit from said Patsy McGonagle, the Irish ath- the All-Ireland championship, when letics team manager. they were hammered by Mayo in It was a disappointing month for Croke Park. Mark English. He performed poorly Early goals from Cillian O’Connor at the World championships in and Donal Vaughan gave Mayo a Moscow, failing to get out of his heat, lead that they would never relin- despite a strong last 100 metres. quish. Donegal lost the game by 16 Finn Harps’ poor run of form con- points, their biggest defeat in cham- tinues in August as they lost three pionship football since 1946. league games to Athlone Town, Wa- “You have to acknowledge the op- terford United and Cobh Ramblers. position and say they were on the However, Harps did pull off a bril- money today and they fully deserved liant result as they managed to quali- their win,” said Jim McGuinness af- fy for the semi-finals of the FAI Cup ter the match. after they beat Cobh Ramblers 4-0 in Milford produced a late purple the quarter-final replay in Cobh. patch to win the Junior A champi- “To step off a bus after such a long onship in O’Donnell Park. Milford journey and turn in a performance were in control at half-time, but Ur- like that showed great resilience and ris fought back in the second half. character and the boys have to take However, four late points sealed the great confidence from that,” said championship for Nigel Black’s team. Hutton. Cloughaneely were relegated to There was good news on the un- the Intermediate Championship, af- derage front for Harps, as their un- ter Glenfin got the upper hand on der 17 team won the prestigious them in MacCumhaill Park. Macron Galway Cup, beating CCFL Donegal under 17s won the Jim in the final. McGuigan Cup in Maghera, beating The Ulster Senior League appoint- Tyrone in the final. ’s ed Donal O’Brien and Trevor Scan- team were hugely impressive on the lon as the new management team of day, beating Monaghan in the semi- the USL Interprovincial side. final, before playing Tyrone. Cockhill Celtic ended the month in Donegal under 16s also excelled the driving seat for the Ulster Senior winning the Buncrana Cup. Shaun League title, after Drumkeen United Paul Barrett’s team produced a ster- lost to Derry City reserves in Au- ling performance to beat Tyrone gust. comfortably in the final at Scarvey. Cockhill manager Donal O’Brien St Eunan’s minor team were at was keen for his players to keep fo- their thrilling best as they pushed cussed until the end of the season. Buncrana aside in the Northern “We can’t be complacent and look at Board minor final by 4-18 to 1-8. How- fixtures and think the league is won, ever, Buncrana impressively the reality is that if we win all our bounced back from that disappoint- games and Drumkeen win theirs it ment to beat Aodh Ruadh in the will come down to that last game, so championship semi-final and set up a I won’t let the boys get complacent decider against the Letterkenny men. and they know that,” said O’Brien. Brendan Boyce continued his de- Letterkenny lad Dale Gorman won velopment on the world stage as he his first international cap for North- set a new personal best and im- ern Ireland when he played in a one- proved on his finish in the 2012 all draw with Scotland in Ayr. Kevin Holian battles high winds with gale force gusts and torrential rain on the back of Errigal road as he powers his way Olympics by four places at the World Seamus Coleman was Ireland’s to being first rider home in the annual An Post Tadhg Culbert Memorial Charity Cycle to Letterkenny. The route brought the track and Field Championships in for the final six minutes of riders through Loughanure, Crolly, Dunlewey, Glenveagh and Churchill. Photo: Declan Doherty Moscow. Ireland’s scoreless draw with Wales Boyce had a time of 3:37:56 in the in Cardiff. It was the first time that 50km walk and finished in 25th posi- the Killybegs men wore the captain’s Hsaip Ma Pei of Chinese Taipei in the with her brother Sam as the pair lost streak to 28 fights, after he beat Adri- tion, shaving 37 seconds off his per- armband for his country. World Championships in Guangzhou to the Dutch pairing of Jorrit De anin Vastine and Michal Kowalcxik sonal best. Chloe Magee put up a gallant in China. Ruiter and Samantha Barning. at the Normandy four nations tour- “Brendan had the walk of his life,” fight, but the Raphoe girl lost out to Magee also lost out in the doubles, Jason Quigley took his winning nament in Berck, France.