BY MATTHEW WILSON
DONEGAL senior ladies coach Karen Guthrie expressed that finding a level of consistency is the focus of the side going forward as they prepare for a meeting with Mayo this weekend.
Donegal were unbeaten in Division 2 of the National Football League entering last Sunday’s encounter with Cavan courtesy of wins over Westmeath, Monaghan and Tyrone.
However, The Breffini County ended James Daly’s side’s winning streak at Father Tierney Park, running out two-point winners at the Ballyshannon venue.
Guthrie stated that the group were disappointed with the defeat to the fellow Ulster outfit, feeling that they were slow out of the blocks.
“We were massively disappointed. We didn’t reach next or near what we would expect of ourselves probably, the girls themselves, not even us.
“We were just well below par, I thought we left a lot behind us. We made poor choices and we probably were slow to grow into the game, not aggressive enough.”
“The early goal in the end separated us. As we say, there’s just a zero tolerance nearly for the ones around the back, you can’t afford to let it happen at any time.
“All it takes is one run around the back to create a goal chance, there can’t be any windows for that and we gave them that window too early in the game.”
In what was a low-scoring affair, it was a match of fine margins which Cavan just edged on a scoreline of 1-6-0-7.
Donegal played with the elements in Act One but they were unable to make full use of the advantage, with some forced efforts going wide off the mark which left the two teams level at the interval.
The Glenfin native discussed that the side performed well in the defensive department to hold Cavan to seven scores but felt that they couldn’t take advantage of this at the other end of the pitch.
“Absolutely, everyone thinks it’s an advantage to play with the wind but sometimes it can be hard to judge too.
“I think our shot zones were probably questionable at times and then whenever you miss a few the girls were trying harder to rectify it and fix it. You’re trying too hard so then you’re not doing what’s natural to you.
“We conceded seven scores so defensively over 60 minutes isn’t bad, we just couldn’t capitalise on the other side.”
Despite the defeat, the Donegal ladies have performed very well to date this term and with a very youthful squad in place, these are days and performances that they’ll learn from and work to improve on going forward.
This is something which Guthrie agreed with and stated that the management maintain the same expectations from the group following Sunday’s defeat.
“It is and we said that to the girls afterwards. You’ll learn a lot about us as people too as well and how we see you. Our opinion of the girls will not change.
“They’re massively honest, hardworking and they’re decent girls. One hour of football doesn’t change how we see them. We still have the same expectations of them, we still have the same hopes for them.
“One day won’t change that. You’ve blips and drop in performance, today was certainly a drop and the girls themselves are massively disappointed with that. It doesn’t even have to come from us, they’re self aware enough to know that that’s not what they expect from themselves too.”
Last weekend’s defeat to Cavan saw the Breffini County move above Donegal into first place in the Division 2 table.
However, James Daly’s outfit remain in the promotion positions, sitting one-point above this Sunday’s opponents, Mayo.
With three games to go in the National League, Sunday’s meeting with the Connacht outfit is a massive encounter and Donegal will be seeking to get back to winning ways.
However, Guthrie discussed that their focus is firmly on producing a consistent level of performance rather than promotion at this moment in time and that’ll be their mindset heading into the contest with Diane O’Hora’s side.
“Maybe with the first three wins there was too much talk about promotion and getting to Division 1. While those things are a by-product of your success and a prize in being consistent, we have to be better week by week.
“The promotion thing for us can’t be on your radar, you’ve to be consistent first and consistency for us in terms of our standards is more important to us right now.
“That’ll be the focus for Mayo next week, not about getting promoted or anything like it. It’s about setting standards that’ll allow us to eventually compete at senior and Division 1 level.”
