Jim McGuinness felt Donegal were 'pushing a boulder up the hill' in final defeat

im McGuinness sat down to digest what happened and the conclusion was fairly straightforward.

Two years ago, with Donegal in the depths after an annus horribilis, McGuinness returned to the Donegal job for a second time.

The Promised Land beckoned again, but after a 1-26 to 0-19 defeat to Kerry in Sunday’s final, a winter in purgatory awaits.

“You try to get as many things right as you can, but sometimes you have to take your hat off and say that the better team won.” McGuinness said. 

“We made too many mistakes to win the game.”

When McGuinness returned to the Donegal dressing room after Sunday’s All-Ireland final defeat, he had a simple message for his players: ‘It’s not a game that you should think about for a long time’. 

McGuinness said: “We didn’t deserve to win the game. That’s the reality. We didn’t do enough to win the game. Sometimes you have to let performances slide and this is one of them.

“They put a massive shift in and have given it their all from the beginning of the year. They have been a very group to work with, very dedicated and focussed.

“Today isn’t a good day for us and it’s not a good day for what we wanted to achieve. I’m very disappointed for the people of Donegal that it didn’t work out. They were here in their droves and didn’t get a performance, which was disappointing.”

Before David Clifford had a touch of the ball - posting a score in the ninth minute - Kerry were 0-5 to 0-3 ahead. Gavin Whyte and Seán O’Shea made hay in the early minutes and Donegal, already, looked in trouble. 

McGuinness, whose Donegal lost to Kerry in the 2014 decider, said: “Kerry came hard early and set the terms of the game. You’re trying to claw your way back into the game. We tried to respond to that but they still kept the scoreboard ticking. 

“Very quickly, you’re in a fight whereas we wanted to be in a position where we would control the game. Very quickly they set the terms of the game. We were pushing a boulder up the hill for certain periods.

“We’ve got to take it on the chin and we have to tip our hat to Kerry. They were brilliant today. 

“They played really, really well for long periods of that game. Even thoguh we got into some situations where we felt as if we might get a bit of traction, that never really materialised.”

Few things went right for Donegal on the big day and the enforced departures of Ciaran Thompson and Ryan McHugh through injury didn’t help the cause.

“They were a big loss,” McGuinness sighed. “Ciaran brings a two-point threat and we missed that. When you’re chasing a score, you want people who can do it and will back themselves to do it. He has certainly done that for us all season. He is a bit of a warrior and we missed him in the middle of the park and we missed the physical nature too. 

“He is a guy you can trust with the ball and if he had been on the pitch in the second half we might have had chances to get twos.”

As it turned out, Kerry scored five two-pointers and Donegal registered none.

Donegal had six scorers against Kerry having had a dozen in their previous two visits to Croke Park.

McGuinness said: “There are things in that: Why didn’t we get the same traction in terms of the threats all over the pitch and different people popping up at different times?

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“Kerry had a very aggressive press on and we tried to do the same. They won a lot of breaking ball. We pride ourselves in that aspect of it, but they won a huge amount of then breaking ball, Gavin Whyte in particular. 

“Every possession was crucial and getting g hands on the ball from our own kick-out was crucial. Both kick-outs and turnovers shape attacks and we didn’t get enough. 

Insisting that his men “felt good” going into the game, McGuinness admitted that there would be a “heavy post-mortem” in the coming weeks and months.