Dublin blow sorry Donegal away with first-half blitz

Hannah Tyrrell scored 1-03 as Dublin dominated from the first whistle and laid the foundations for their Lidl NFL Division 1 victory over Donegal with a brilliant first half display.

Dublin scored 1-11 without reply before the break to ensure their hosts remain bottom of the table, still without a win, and will be relegated to Division 2 if Mayo avoid defeat at home to Galway on Sunday.

Maxi Curran's young side may have gone into this game in Letterkenny as underdogs, but they would have been hoping to have put up a better challenge in front of their own supporters.

It was Dublin who hit the ground running with early scores from Jennifer Dunne, Kate Sullivan and Hannah Tyrrell, to go 0-03 to 0-00 ahead within eight minutes.

Tyrrell would go on to score 1-03 in a first half where the visitors were clinical in front of goal. Her goal came from a penalty on 24 minutes after Caoimhe Keon was adjudged to have fouled the ball on the line.

Dunne and Eilish O’Dowd were well on top in the midfield sector and whenever Donegal did manage to work the ball forward, they found it almost impossible to break down a well-organised defence.

By half-time, Donegal trailed by 1-11 to 0-00 and they would also start the second half with only 14 players after midfielder Shelly Twohig was shown a yellow card just before the interval.

Last year’s player of the year Niamh McLaughlin made a welcome return from injury, coming on as a half-time substitute for Donegal, and she gave the home side a notable lift.

They scored their first point of the day when Katy Herron converted a close-in free seven minutes after the restart. It set the tone for a much-improved display from the home side.

Dublin weren’t helped by the loss of Jessica Tobin and then Ellen