BY RYAN FERRY

DONEGAL manager Jim McGuinness says Cavan brought a ‘serious edge’ to their group opener with Mayo, and he expects his side to face more of the same on Sunday.

Cavan were tipped by many pundits to finish bottom of Group One but their three-point victory over Mayo has made things interesting.

And if they could defeat Donegal on Sunday, they would be in an excellent position before facing Tyrone in Round Three.

Donegal weren’t at full-strength last year in the league when they took on Cavan but they were given their fill of it before winning by one point.

The Breffni County are mad about their football and their supporters won’t be long getting behind the team if they start well and are in contention for another result.

McGuinness said: “We were at the Cavan game against Mayo and they played with a serious edge from the first minute to the last minute, they played with a serious edge.

“When the ball was in the air and it was 50-50, they were really strong, really physical and then when they did win it, they were breaking really quickly and they put Mayo on the back foot on numerous occasions.

“So they’ll be looking at that (Donegal’s performance against Tyrone) as well and they’ll be taking positives from that and they’ll be looking forward to us coming and if they can get a result, they’re in an amazing position.

“We’ve seen that with the game last weekend, with the Mayo game, the way it made life difficult for them. We’re in the same boat now.”

Donegal need a result after they lost to Tyrone last Saturday, and McGuinness was visibly frustrated with how his team performed on that occasion.

It has been described as a ‘coming-of-age’ display from Tyrone who brought real intensity to the encounter.

McGuinness was happy with Donegal’s defensive effort in general but didn’t make the most of the possession they enjoyed.

“I thought we managed them really well. I thought the boys in the backline, Ciarán Moore, done a very good job on Darren McCurry.

“I thought we managed Darragh Canavan really well. I thought we had a really good shape. The goals from our point of view were very, very soft. Apart from that there was a two-pointer, there were a couple of one-pointers.

“So it wasn’t as if they were tagging scores all the time. Obviously, I don’t want to take away from what Tyrone are after doing.

“They’ve won the game, they’ve won the game fair and square and fair play to them. We’ll not be looking at Tyrone, we’ll be looking at ourselves.

“Definitely we know where we’re at as a group and we know what the standards are and those standards weren’t met by ourselves in terms of our own implementation of our own game plan.

“But fair play to Tyrone, they came in, they done the job and they got the points.”

Three of the provincial champions – Donegal, Louth, and Galway – were all beaten in Round One of the All-Ireland Group Stages.

McGuinness was asked if the exertions from the province had taken its toll, in comparison with the third seeds who had a break and a chance to re-charge before entering the next phase of the season.

However, the Glenties man pointed out that Donegal produced one of their best displays last year against Tyrone in the group opener, so he felt that wasn’t the reason for the below-par display.

“I don’t think so. We had two weeks coming off the back of that Ulster final last year as well.

“We came in here and we were bright and we were fresh and we were energised, we were Ulster champions. We’d just become Ulster champions back-to-back, it was the exact same scenario. We had trained well, we had recovered well after the Ulster final, we had trained well, there was a freshness in the training.

“I don’t know, maybe the conditions played some level of a part but there were so many parts of our game that just weren’t where they needed to be.

“We didn’t manage the game well, decision making, where we were shooting from, energy levels, unforced errors, taking the ball into contact.

“There was just so many things, it’s hard to know where to start.”

It will be an interesting weekend in Group One as Mayo make the trip to Omagh on Saturday evening.

After losing their opener to Cavan, Mayo will be keen to get back to winning ways.

However, they will make the journey without manager Kevin McStay who has stepped back from his role with immediate effect due to his recent health issues.

McStay is recuperating after a reported medical episode and former Donegal coach Stephen Rochford will take charge of the team.

The exact details of the medical episode have not been disclosed but McStay has been under intense pressure this season and watched his team narrowly lost the Connacht Final to Galway.

Former joint-Tyrone manager Feargal Logan had to take a break last year after having a stroke, and it highlights the serious pressure that a lot of inter-county managers are under.

McGuinness said: “There is a lot because we’re asking our players to do too much in too short of a time and then it’s almost impossible to get the turnaround.

“There’s no time to analyse a game, study a game and go to the pitch and develop that on the training. Everything’s condensed. That’s the word that we’re looking for so I’m very, very sorry to hear that.”