Donegal 1-25 Derry 1-15: Ballybofey sun a throwback to Ulster SFC times past

Rogers, despite having been a pre-match fitness doubt because of an ankle issue, valiantly fought to get the Oak Leafers back into the game as his point and two-pointer, in addition to another successful Conor Doherty shot from outside the 40-metre arc cut Donegal’s lead to two.

But that was as good as it got for Derry as Donegal responded with seven straight single points which left them nine clear after 47 minutes. Even with the new rules’ two-point score, a further Oak Leaf comeback never looked on.

Murphy, after being well-held by Eoin McEvoy for the most part, finally scored from play five minutes from time as he escaped the shackles of the youngster.

“Eoin was very good today. He kept Michael very quiet. Michael got a couple of scores before the end but the game was well opened up by that stage,” reflected Tally, who spoke of the importance of the lengthy break the Oak Leafers now have before they begin the All-Ireland Group campaign next month.

“The season isn’t over by a long way. We have the group stages of the championship to look forward to. We have a few weeks off and at this moment in time, we need it. We have a lot of injuries.

“We need to strengthen our squad. We need to get boys back. We really only had a week there to get the likes of Brendan in again and Lachlan [Murray] and Ciaran McFaul. I’d like to think with a good run at it that we’ll be in better shape.”

For their part, Donegal will be back out again in Ulster in less than a fortnight at Clones when they face Monaghan, who remain the only county to have defeated McGuinness the manager in the province by dint of the 2013 provincial final win over the then All-Ireland champions.

Hopefully, the sun will keep shining for that one.