Donegal cruise past Meath into All-Ireland final

Donegal are into a first All-Ireland SFC final since 2014 after a ruthless display in their sizeable 3-26 to 0-15 victory over Meath in their semi-final at Croke Park.

Meath have defeated Dublin, Kerry and Galway in a giant-killing season, but they fell short against the more efficient Ulster champions.

Whilst the Donegal carefully crafted points, Meath tried at every opportunity to shoot on sight, particularly within the two-point range, with varying degrees of success resulting in them trailing 0-13 to 0-8 at half-time.

Donegal dialled it up a notch in the second half showing an even greater clinical edge with Oisin Gallen, Ciaran Moore and Conor O'Donnell scoring goals which put the result beyond doubt.

Jim McGuinness' side will now face Kerry in a mouth-watering decider on 27 July as they look to win the Sam Maguire for the first time in 13 years.

Patience pays off for efficient Donegal

Hogan denied McFadden a goal during a dominant spell late in the first half from Donegal

In a breathless start in the sun, Sean Coffey hit the post when aiming for a point before Michael Murphy got Donegal off and running with a looping effort.

The two sides then traded scores before Meath's first two-pointer arrived from Eoghan Frayne.

Three successive Donegal points followed, but another two-pointer, this time from Ruairi Kinsella, had Meath right back in it.

A lull followed midway through the half, as both sides misfired going forward, with Meath guilty of 12 wides in a wasteful first-half display they failed to recover from.

Robbie Brenan's side were dealt a blow as Bryan Menton limped off with an injury before Donegal wrestled control by demonstrating the efficiency Meath lacked.

Langan got the first point of the game in over 10 minutes with Murphy, Gallen and Ciaran Thompson helping McGuinness' side rattle off four successive scores as the tide started to turn in the favour.

Curtis then got Meath's first score since 14th minute, but they were indebted to goalkeeper Billy Hogan for keeping them in the game as he denied Hugh McFadden from close range.

The quiet Jordan Morris registered his first score on 33 minutes but late efforts from Gallen and Murphy, when he may have opted to go for goal, gave Donegal a five-point lead.

Three Donegal goals in strong second half showing

Three second-half goals helped Donegal to put the result beyond doubt

Points at either end followed early in the second half before Gallen netted to virtually end Meath's hopes of a stirring comeback.

He jinked his way inside before clinically dispatching beyond Hogan and into the far corner, with Murphy adding another point soon after to stretch their advantage to eight.

Substitute Patrick McBrearty tagged on another before Moore stroked home a second goal to add to Donegal's healthy lead with 24 minutes still remaining.

Hogan pushed Thompson's effort away, but with space opening up, Donegal kept the scoreboard ticking, adding on five more points.

They were still hungry for more goals and Conor O'Donnell weaved his way inside before firing into an empty net as they inflicted further damage on a jaded Meath side, whose fairytale run came to crashing end.

Donegal can now look ahead to the All-Ireland final in a fortnight's time against a Kerry side that dispatched Tyrone with similar ease to which McGuinness' side saw off Meath.

Line-ups

Donegal: Shaun Patton; Finnbarr Roarty, Brendan McCole, Peadar Morgan; Ryan McHugh, Eoghan Ban Gallagher, Caolan McColgan; Hugh McFadden, Michael Langan; Shane O'Donnell, Ciaran Thompson, Ciaran Moore; Conor O'Donnell, Micheal Murphy, Oisin Gallen.

Subs: Gavin Mulreany, Stephen McMenamin, Odhran McFadden Ferry, Eoin McHugh, Caolan McGonagle, Odhran Doherty, Patrick McBrearty, Jamie Brennan, Niall O'Donnell, Daire O Baoill, Jason McGee.

Meath: Billy Hogan; Seamus Lavin, Sean Rafferty, Ronan Ryan; Donal Keoghan, Sean Coffey, Ciaran Caulfield; Bryan Menton, Adam O'Neill; Conor Duke, Ruairi Kinsella, Keith Curtis; Jordan Morris, Matthew Costello, Eoghan Frayne.

Subs: Sean Brennan, Brian O'Halloran, Eoin Harkin, James McEntee, Cian McBride, Conor Gray, Aaron Lynch, Daithi McGowan, Shane Walsh, Diarmuid Moriarty, Cathal Hickey.

Referee: Paul Faloon (Down)