Donegal manager, Jim McGuinness, expressed that his side have a lot to think about following their Ulster Senior Football Championship quarter-final defeat to Down at O’Donnell Park on Sunday.
Donegal were entering the latest edition of the competition aiming to do what no other side from the county has done before, winning three Anglo Celt Cups in-a-row.
However, their bid ended at the first hurdle on Sunday as Conor Laverty’s Down outfit produced a brilliant display to record a six-point victory.
Speaking in the aftermath of Sunday’s defeat, the Donegal boss discussed his disappointment with the performance of the side in the encounter.
“I am very, very disappointed with the overall performance. Our energy levels and our intensity levels just weren’t there. Down cut through us on many occasions.
“We had a lot of the ball in the first half, but weren’t ourselves in front of the posts. We were in the 30s in terms of conversion rate and that’s not us. We have a lot to think about.
McGuinness referenced how much Down were written off in the run up to this game as a motivating factor for the Mourne men.
Laverty’s men will now go on to meet Armagh in the last four of the Ulster Senior Football Championship next Sunday.
Meanwhile, Donegal will now face a lengthy gap between competitive contests, with their next outing being the start of the All-Ireland Series which will conclude after the provincial competitions.
McGuinness stated that for his side now, it’s a case of taking stock and going back to the drawing board ahead of their next objective.
“Down were written off in every quarter and that was fuel for them. They weren’t even in the picture and that was obviously going to be fuel to the fire. We needed to be ready for that and we weren’t ready for that.
“Clearly we need to get fellas back through the gears. We have to take it on the chin and reevaluate. We were lacking energy and lacking accuracy.
“When it was going the other direction, Down were getting through. We just have to take stock and go back to the drawing board.”