James Daly refuses to mince words in assessing Donegal ladies' loss to Tyrone
In a brutally honest assessment of his side’s disappointing 4-10 to 2-7 Ulster championship loss to Tyrone in Lifford on Sunday, the Armagh native says players and management alike have to shoulder the blame
James Daly says Donegal simply have to look at themselves in the mirror if they are to salvage their championship season in the All-Ireland series.
In a brutally honest assessment of his side’s disappointing 4-10 to 2-7 Ulster championship loss to Tyrone in Lifford on Sunday, the Armagh native says players and management alike have to shoulder the blame.
It’s also a result that ends his side’s interest in the provincial title as they now retreat and attempt to regroup ahead of the All-Ireland series.
“I thought we looked flat, flat from the start,” he said after. “And that’s not what we were getting off the girls in training the last few weeks. They’d been going really well.
“We started pretty well in the first ten to 15 minutes. But we absolutely gifted Tyrone two goals. We just never recovered”.
The Red Hands exited at the weekend 2-5 to 0-2 up at the changeover. But even though they had the breeze in their backs on the resumption, Donegal just couldn’t mount any sustainable fightback.
“Going in at half-time, there was a strong wind there. But we never got back to the pitch of the game. Tyrone were better than us, simple as that.
“We had a free 25m from goal and kicked it in on top of their goalkeeper. Ten seconds later they went up the field and scored a goal. That’s just errors by senior players.
“It was the goals that did the damage, but you’ll not win too many games doing that.
“We came out after half-time and knew we had to start fast. We caught the ball off the throw-in, and we got a goal and a point really quickly.
“That took the score down and for a moment it felt like we were back in the game again. But Tyrone outworked us. They had better energy than us”.
And while he refused to lay the blame at anyone else’s feet, Daly just couldn’t keep a cap on his frustrations with some of the decisions that went against his side over the hour.
“I might get in trouble for this but I thought Maggie Farrelly was shocking out there today. Our girls were getting mugged and not getting anything for it.
“We couldn’t put a hand on them. That didn’t help the situation but that isn’t why we lost. We lost because Tyrone were better than us on the day”.
He added: “Tyrone have been getting ready for us for five weeks. We had Cavan in the league final and then Armagh two weeks later.
“I’m not saying we took our eye off the ball but Tyrone showed how ready they were for us. They were aggressive, hungry and really on it. They deserved to win.
“We are blue in the face with this but it’s not ability that’s the problem, it’s mentality and decision making.
“Sometimes you have to make that hard run. I looked at Shauna McFadden and Tara Hegarty there today and they never stopped running.
“Then we have girls there with even more legs but it’s a mentality thing. When the chips are down you simply have to step it up.
“And I have to take responsibility for that too. I’m the man who picks the team, prepares the team.
“So we have to go back to the drawing board. We have to address that too. If we keep playing like that, then we’re the wrong people for the job”.