It’s still in our hands - Neil McGee ahead of Monaghan clash

After an admittedly disappointing defeat to Roscommon on Sunday, Donegal selector Neil McGee wasn’t too disheartened as the chance of making the Division 1 final still lies with Donegal.

The 2-20 to 0-20 defeat in Dr Hyde Park marked Donegal’s first loss in the League campaign, having won their first four games before a draw with Galway.

It still leaves Jim McGuinness’ men top on head-to-head with Kerry, but the chasing pack of Mayo and Roscommon are just a point behind as they meet in Castlebar on Sunday.

For Donegal, a draw with Monaghan and a Mayo win should be enough to reach the final, as long as Kerry don’t draw with Armagh.

But in simpler terms, a win over the already relegated Farney County in Clones on Sunday would ensure their place in the final in Croke Park the following week.

“There will be a lot of different scenarios of what it is going to be, but if we beat Monaghan, then we’re through to the final, and it’s in our hands,” McGee said after the loss to the Rossies.

“We’d have liked to have got the points (against Roscommon) because we’d have a nice run in for the next two weeks, but we’ll have to go back at it and go again now for maybe three weeks in a row.

“That’s not ideal, but it is what it is, and we’ll suck it up, we didn’t deserve to be (in the final) after that performance.

“Monaghan could turn over any team, and they’ll put up a fight. The only thing we can say for now is that at least we’re safe.

“They’ll want to put in a performance next week and get their tails up again, it’s the way you want to use the league to get momentum, and any team with momentum are dangerous. We’re going to be down a bit after losing, and Roscommon will have the momentum going into their final game, so there’s that in it.

“But it’s still all to play for, and it’s in our hands, which is all that matters.”

Against the breeze in the first half, Donegal trailed by 1-13 to 0-5 at the break, which didn’t seem like an insurmountable deficit to peg back.

And they started well after the break with a host of two-pointers, getting back to within two points by the 50th minute.

But Roscommon twice had good spells, particularly in the final five minutes when there was just two points in it, as a counter-attack from a Conor O’Donnell two-point effort dropped short and Conor Hand palmed in for a second goal to seal the victory.

“You almost have to look at the weather before games nowadays, and it shouldn’t be like that.

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“It is what it is, and when we were eleven down, we fairly chipped away at it quickly, and we were in a good position, but we were going back to doing the same things that we did in the first half.

“We’re disappointed because we got ourselves back into a position where there was two points in it with 18 minutes left and you nearly would have put your house on (Donegal) at that stage nearly.”

“But we went back to those mistakes we were making in the first half, where we were giving the ball away, and most of their scores came from that.

“And when you’re doing that, it’s hard to get it out of the system when you’re not on it. We were saying that we weren’t on it from early on, and we did well to get back into it, but Roscommon were the better team in the end.

“It’s not like us, we were giving the ball away too handy and we were rushing things, and that’s what brought Roscommon back into the game, it was our own doing really.”