Dublin see off Donegal to improve survival hopes

Dublin's fight for survival in Division 1 of the Allianz Football League will go down to the final day of the campaign after throwing themselves a vital lifeline with their best performance of 2022, securing back to back wins.

A slow start aside, Dessie Farrell's side performed solidly throughout and were full value for their four-point win having previously overcome All-Ireland title holders Tyrone in Round 5.

It was all doom and gloom before that on the back of four straight defeats but now Dublin know that if they beat Monaghan in Clones next Sunday, they have a great chance of staying up.

It's not entirely in their own hands as Tyrone, Donegal and Kildare - all on five points in the table, one ahead of Dublin and Monaghan - could all win next weekend and in that case Dublin and Monaghan would still go down regardless of what happens in Clones.

But Dublin couldn't do any more than give themselves a fighting chance and they certainly did that with another morale boosting win here, thanks partly to 1-05 from Dean Rock and a goal from Niall Scully too.

Rock and Scully were among a clutch of Dublin players who looked far brighter and much more interested and alive than in previous games with Brian Howard, Brian Fenton and Sean Bugler delivering when it mattered too.

This was much more like the Dublin we've known and admired for the last decade or so, building on their result against Tyrone with a solid display.

They even grabbed a rare goal in the opening 20 minutes having failed to find the net in their previous four games.

Dublin's only previous goal in the campaign was scored by Lorcan O'Dell in the Round 1 defeat to Armagh back in late January.

Mind you, Dublin did have to weather an early Donegal storm with Declan Bonner's