Dáire Ó Baoill stars as Donegal move through gears to see off Fermanagh

Donegal proved their worth in the second half as they pulled away to win easily against Fermanagh at O'Donnell Park in Letterkenny.

It was a third win out of three in Division 2 for Jim McGuinness' side and they look well on track for an instant return to the top-flight.

While Donegal had eight different scorers, it was half-back Dáire Ó Baoill who stole the show with three fine first-half points followed by two goals in the second period.

Conditions at O’Donnell Park were almost perfect at the start of the game with no wind or rain although the latter did arrive at half time.

Fermanagh opened with two bad wides, while Donegal also had seven shots off target in the opening 35 minutes.

The star of the half was Donegal’s wing-back Ó Baoill, who kicked three brilliant long-range scores, the middle one the highlight, a looping effort with a golfer’s draw from close on 45m which drew the sides level at 0-04 apiece on 26 minutes.

Fermanagh were very strong in defence and got off to a good start with two Sean Cassidy points, one from a free.

From there until the final score of the half from Ó Baoill, it was almost score for score. Three consecutive points came via marks, two from Fermanagh’s Declan McCusker and Cassidy with McBrearty replying for Donegal.

Oisin Gallen put Donegal ahead for the first time on 28 minutes after Lee Cullen fouled Ryan McHugh. Conor McGee replied with a brilliant effort before Ó Baoill fittingly had the final score of the half to leave it Donegal 0-06 Fermanagh 0-05 at the break.

Brandon Horan had Fermanagh level inside a minute of the restart, but two Donegal subs hit back, with Mark Curran and Jeaic Mac Ceallabhuí on target.

Aaron Doherty had an effort saved by Ross Bogue but then the Fermanagh 'keeper was