BY Ryan Ferry

JIM McGuinness admitted that his team lacked the right consistency in the championship this season.

Donegal were talked up after winning the National Football League but the championship proved to be disappointing as they lost three of their four games.

The final blow came from Dublin in Croke Park.

Donegal were in front for much of the game but Dublin gradually got on top and they pushed on in extra-time to win by four.

“Disappointed obviously,” said McGuinness afterwards.

“It’s hard to reflect now because it’s so early but on reflection, we just didn’t do enough in the games in terms of consistency.

“You’re trying to arrive with as many healthy bodies as possible and that’s a big part of it.

“We tried to do that today but we didn’t have enough in the tank and that’s the bottom line.

“I think the kick-outs were a big part of it. Our own kick-outs wasn’t firing the way it normally would and Dublin were getting them out very, very early and that was stretching us and allowing them to get the short ones away as well. They were asking both questions.

“We were probably down about 50% over the course of the game which isn’t enough. You need to be tipping 60-65-70%. Some of the teams were at 80% over the weekend and doing a really good job.

“If you’re not then you’re chasing your tail. You’re trying to live off scraps and in fairness we did do that.

“The positive today was that they kept on going and they kept on going. Michael’s two-pointer at the end of normal time to pull the game back was real good courage.

“That would be a positive but my initial thought would be that we didn’t do enough within the game to win it.”

Donegal showed plenty of character at the end of normal time when they fell three down.

They didn’t throw in the towel and Michael Langan fired over before Michael Murphy nailed a two-point free.

Tempers flared after that and while both sides had two men black-carded, it had a bigger impact on Donegal.

They lost imposing figures in Michael Murphy and Jason McGee and then had real difficulty in winning primary possession from their own kick-outs.

“We lost three,” said McGuinness.

“We had just taken Hughie (McFadden) off so that had a big impact on it.

“It didn’t help matters that’s for sure and when you’re in the dressing room, you don’t know what is going to happen out of the dressing room and that impacts on how you pick the team for the start of extra-time.

“It was a wait and see situation and he brandished four black cards so we can’t have any complaints about that either.

“You have to leave three men up the field. It’s hard enough with 11 (defending) with the new rules. If you’re two men down, people are just eyeing up the person that is most fatigued and they are looking for one v ones.

“That’s what happened. People were trying their best and trying to get there but you had some of the Dublin players that were fresh, lining up fellas that had played the whole game and that’s a tough spot to be in.”

McGuinness shook it up after the defeat to Cork and opted to hold back Oisin Gallen and Ryan McHugh for impact off the bench.

He also restored Gavin Mulreany to the starting line-up.

Shaun Patton had played against Cork but McGuinness turned to Mulreany once more for the knock-out game and it proved to be a challenging day for the St Naul’s man.

“Shaun to be fair to him has been pushing through with a bit of pain all year and we have been trying to get him right all year.

“He has been battling away and that has had a bit of an impact on him.

“We probably need to go away and get him looked at again.

“It’s been a tough year for Shaun. We have been trying to get him right.

“He had surgery on the back of the All-Ireland. It has been complicated. It hasn’t been easy and we have been trying to manage it and get him in and get him out.

“We felt we had to get him in last week because if we wanted to use him, we had to do that before knock-out football and that was the thinking.

“Gavin had done really well up until that point.”

Donegal were tipped by many to have a big say in this year’s championship but it’s all over before the last week in June.

They aren’t the only big-hitter to fall as Armagh also lost in the championship on Saturday.

Both teams had a similar tale as they could have won in Round 2A but didn’t and then were caught the following week.

Donegal were seven clear against Cork in Ballybofey but lost by one.

That put them in Round 3 of the All-Ireland SFC, and hindsight tells us that the four teams with home advantage all came through.

It could have played out differently had Donegal won against Cork and had a two-week break for the quarter-finals but they left themselves exposed and were punished.

“Absolutely. And there were a lot of decisions in that game that were sort of marginal that could have went either way.

“And if they did go our way, then you were in a quarter-final and that’s the reality but that’s football at the minute.

“There’s a sad story every day if we go down that road.

“It’s not as straight-forward as it was. There is no line of form anymore.

“That day is gone. It’s about arriving in the right moment and trying to make it happen.

“We saw that last year through the championship and we’re seeing it this year again.”