DONEGAL MANAGER RORY GALLAGHER admitted he was disappointed to see his side conclude their Allianz League Division 1 with a defeat against Mayo in Castlebar this afternoon.
Gallagher’s team produced a fine second quarter to move into an 0-11 to 1-5 lead at half-time and might’ve fancied their chances kicking with the wind in the second half.
However, Mayo surged back and kicked the last six points of the day to confirm their place in the top flight for next year – something that was also guaranteed by the fact Roscommon defeated Cavan at Hyde Park
“We would be disappointed that we did not push on in the second half,” Gallagher said afterwards at Elvery’s MacHale Park.
“There were a lot of positives. I thought the first half was exhilarating and in the second half even though Mayo were the stronger team, our boys did not shirk the challenge. We have not done a lot of training over the last month going from game to game and I thought there was an element of tiredness creeping in at the end. We did not get up the field with the same frequency we had, we invested a lot of energy but Mayo finished a lot stronger.
“You will always be disappointed when you lose but we have to be brave and honest with where we are at and in the second half Mayo brought an awful lot of physicality to the game, they pinned us in on our short kick-outs and they dominated us around the middle but I am happy with where we are at the moment.”
Donegal finished with 14 men with the dismissal of Eamonn Doherty for catching Aidan O’Shea with an outstretched leg a vital factor in the final outcome. Gallagher’s team were 0-13 to 1-7 in front when the St Eunan’s player was shown the line by Cormac Reilly 13 minutes from time.
“I thought it as huge,” Gallagher said. “I am told that he was on the ground and his foot came up. I think there was a very similar incident involving a Mayo player in front of their dug-out a couple of minutes before that and there was nothing dished out. I would be disappointed we lost a player in that five six-minute spell when there was a lot going on.”
O’Shea’s introduction was a huge boost to Mayo as they turned a four-point deficit into an eventual two-point win. The Breaffy midfielder added a physical element to Mayo and it’s something Gallagher would’ve liked to have had more of in his own team.
“If I had the physicality I would do the same. You have to give great credit to them, they fought really hard and so did we but it was not enough in the end.”
The league final will now see Kerry take on Dublin following their respective wins over Tyrone and Monaghan today. Gallagher added that talk of Croke Park wasn’t on the minds of Donegal.
“The league final was never mentioned,” he said. “It was about coming here to win the game, and playing the likes of Mayo, Dublin, Tyrone, Monaghan and Kerry is what it is all about and the more experience of that we can accrue the better so if we got to a league final we would have been looking forward to it.”
