[1] Former Kerry footballer Pat Spillane, in his capacity as an analyst for RTÉ Television, tipped an easy win for Dublin.

Colm McFadden scored the resulting free from inside the 45-metre line to give the opening point of the match to Donegal.

In the tenth minute Dublin's Bernard Brogan ran through on the Donegal goal but his shot past Paul Durcan went to the left and wide.

In the game's twenty-fourth minute Ryan Bradley restored Donegal's lead, evading the efforts of most of Dublin's players to send the ball between the posts and score the first point from play.

More Dublin wides followed until their goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton stepped up to send a free over the Donegal bar and score his first point of the game.

In the forty-ninth minute Dublin's Cian O'Sullivan showed his frustration by lashing out at Rory Kavanagh, sending him flat onto the Croke Park turf.

The referee Maurice Deegan consulted his lineman Rory Hickey before showing Connolly the red card and changing his decision to a hop-ball which Donegal cleared.

In stoppage time Durcan intercepted McManamon's pass to Michael Darragh MacAuley to prevent what looked a certain Dublin goal.

Pat Spillane, uncertain what to make of proceedings after witnessing the first half, famously branded Donegal's style of play "Shi'ite football" live in front of the nation during his attempted half-time analysis.

[3] This was also the origin of Spillane's infamous calling for McGuinness to be sent to The Hague and tried there for "crimes against football", a comment which would return to haunt him on many occasions for many years afterwards.

[4] Vincent Hogan would later use the match as an example to brand McGuinness "a leader of sheep" in a famous newspaper article, which backfired on him when he mocked what Donegal would offer in the 2012 season — they won the All-Ireland title that year.