The Cork side featured four of the squad who lost out to a last-gasp Athenry comeback in Monday's All-Ireland Croke Cup hurling semi-final and it was another day of late heartbreak for that quartet and another batch of teammates in Dublin.

The Donegal side claimed their third title in just four years with an 82nd-minute headed goal from midfielder Jack Doherty, leaving the Munster champions to rue a clutch of goal chances that had gone abegging on a warm but windy afternoon.

It wasn't an undeserved win.

Carndonagh had their opportunities to open the scoring a lot earlier too and Midleton goalkeeper and captain Arthur Nganou - one of the four who featured against Athenry - doing brilliantly to keep his net undisturbed more than once.

Joe Stack, the other player to have started the hurling encounter earlier in the week, was another to stand out for Midleton against a side that started the game as favourites due to their pedigree in this competition in previous years.

The opening quarter made for a cagey affair with two sets of players finding their feet on a pitch that asked everything of their control and it was Carndonagh who managed most of the attacking probes in that spell.

Particularly dangerous down Midleton's left side, there were a handful of occasions when they wove their way into the area only to have their progress checked just as one player or other wound up for the shot on goal.

Midleton, forced to defend for long periods, found it difficult to bring enough bodies to the attacking third and too many times they sent long balls straight down the throat of the opposition keeper rather than into the channels.

The game did eventually open up - and at both ends.

Midleton's Stack made a clean connection with one volley that sailed over and his teammate Matthew O'Reilly sent one of the half's best chances wide of the near post after some loose defending left him in possession with time to spare inside the box.

Carndonagh centre-forward Luke Rudden had the game's first pop on goal nine minutes in and another later in the period but midfielder and captain Kieran Farren aped O'Reilly when scuffing a gilt-edged shot at Nganou who diverted the shot for a corner.

Nil-all at the break, the absence of goals wasn't for the lack of trying and Stack almost broke the deadlock as the half wound down with a brilliant 30-yard strike that was turned away for a corner from which the same player almost headed into the rigging.

Midleton, and the impressive Stack, picked up from where they left off on the restart with the midfielder having a free-kick turned away for a corner before centre-forward Loic Nguefang stung goalkeeper Padraig O'Donnell's hands with two attempts from distance.

Carndonagh were living off counters at this stage and nearly made them count twice in the third quarter with Rudden just caught offside on one probe and winger Mikey Friel forced to pull his shot wide by the advancing Nganou in the Midleton nets on the hour.

Midleton's dominance was on the wane at this point and Nganou had to pull off a similar feat on the 74th minute by smothering a Rudden shot at source. Stack, again, had a response soon after with a header from a corner that looped high and wide.

It beggared belief that it was still 0-0 at that point.

The goal, when it finally came, was a well-orchestrated effort by Carndonagh that ended with a cross being headed into the bottom corner by Doherty who seemed to ghost in towards the six-yard box virtually unnoticed.

Midleton pushed centre-back Jamie Collins up front in search of the equaliser but the inevitable gap left at the back was almost punished when substitute Pearse McCarron clipped the post on the break as the clock turned into the red.

That seemed about right. One goal always looked likely to win this one.

Carndonagh CS: P O'Donnell, L McLaughlin, D Doherty, J Harkin, C O'Donnell, K Farren, M Friel, J Doherty, L Rudden, C McBride, F McClure. Subs: N Logue for D Doherty (59); P McCarron for Rudden (86).

Midleton CBS: A Nganou, D O'Halloran, M Ahern, S O'Riordan, J Collins, J Stack, N Cunningham, F Duggan, L Nguefang, M O'Reilly, C Whalley. Subs: J O'Hanlon for Cunningham (80).

Referee: D Carey (DDSL).