All-Ireland SFC 2A qualifier: Donegal 0-12 0-07 Longford

Longford missed chances to extend their lead in the early part of the second half

Donegal seemed to be suffering a hangover from their hammering by Tyrone as they laboured to beat Longford in the football qualifier at Ballybofey.

Longford led 0-4 to 0-3 after a turgid first half and then moved two up before James McGivney's red card led to the visitors losing their way.

Patrick McBrearty's four points helped Donegal pull clear after a first half when they had fired a dozen wides.

Donegal will learn their next qualifier opponents in Monday's third-round draw.

A large, predominantly home crowd of 9,915 turned up to watch the round 2A qualifier but the Donegal supporters were left bemused by their team's lacklustre first-half display.

Michael Murphy's sixth-minute free was Donegal's only score in the opening 23 minutes as they appeared short on energy.

When Donegal did get into scoring positions in the opening half, their shooting was poor as they also struggled to deal with Longford's physique.

Two David McGivney frees helped Longford lead 0-4 to 0-3 at the break and Robbie Smyth's second score then edged the visitors two clear after the resumption.

The sides were level at 0-5 apiece when James McGivney completed a hat-trick of enforced departures for the Longford half-forward line as he picked up a second yellow card.

Earlier, Daniel Mimnagh and Darren Gallagher had been black carded for the visitors.

As Martin McElhinney's introduction gave some badly-needed impetus to the Donegal attack, the home side hit seven of the remaining nine scores with McBrearty contributing four of those points.

Donegal boss Rory Gallagher admitted his side had produced a "flat performance".

"Longford made it difficult for us but we didn't do enough to break through them," said Gallagher.

"But we are in the draw for the next round of the qualifiers and that is what it is all about."

Saturday's results