Donegal footballers lay down marker for season

Donegal got their league campaign off to a winning start last night by easily beating Down in the first match of Division One in the Allianz National Football League.
They won on a score of 3-15 (24) to 0-07 (7) at Pairc Esler in Newry with captain Michael Murphy leading the line and kicking eight points as a dominant Donegal won by 17 clear points.
The win against Down is exactly what manager Rory Gallagher demanded, warning that Donegal needed full points from their first two league matches to boost their survival hopes in the first division.
The Saturday evening success was only Donegal’s third away win in Division One since claiming the league title in 2007, a run of results that stretched back 17 matches before last night.
They now take on Cork in Donegal for their second league game of the new season.