DONEGAL Under 20 manager Gary Boyle admitted that he had no complaints after seeing his side knocked out of the Ulster Championship on Wednesday evening.
It’s rare that a Donegal side dominates a Tyrone outfit in the manner like Boyle’s charges did in the first of the semi-final.
However, they didn’t make it count on the scoreboard as a series of wides came back to haunt them.
There was no way Tyrone could be as poor in the second half and their accuracy in the final twenty minutes was in stark contrast to Donegal’s poor shooting.
“It’s very disappointing alright but look we have no complaints,” said Boyle afterwards.
“It was probably in the first half where we lost the game really.
“I think we were six ahead and we should have been a lot more ahead than that and that was the game there.”
Kick-outs are so important in the modern game and with towering goalkeeper Lewis McCaughan coming out to help, Donegal were able to own the ball.
Tyrone were happy to sit deep and defend and allow Donegal to shoot from distance but they were wayward with a number of two-point efforts.
“You’re not going to win an Ulster semi-final with 15 wides, it’s not going to happen.
“In the first half, we had loads and loads of shots and they just kept drifting wide.
“In the second half, it was a wee bit harder scoring up to the top end but again we were forcing some shots in the second half.
“We just felt we were under pressure and we had to get scores then.
“The harder we tried the worst it seemed to get.”
Boyle added: “We were winning loads and loads of kick-outs but it just comes down to our wides.
“If we had got another half dozen of them (shots), there’s a different feel to the game and boys get more rhythm then but I think they just tensed up a bit as the game went on and they felt more pressure.
“I think Tyrone probably smelt that there as the game went on and they eventually got ahead of us.”
Donegal had a bye in the last round of their section and as they topped their quintet, that meant they went straight through to the semi-finals.
There was a three-week gap without a match and it was interesting that both Donegal and Armagh who won their groups lost out against sides who had good wins in the quarter-final.
However, Boyle was quick to stress that their goal all along was to top their section.
“No not at all.
“I don’t think so.
“You want a home semi-final and it definitely is a big carrot.
“What we were talking about all year was going through the group stage and take where we get.
“We have no complaints tonight, we just lost it by kicking away far too many wides and that’s the bottom line really.”