We can’t rush lads back too quickly - Paddy Carr

Paddy Carr says Donegal need to pick up NFL points but - the boss says - that won’t be at the expense of rushing players back into the mix that aren’t ready.

After defeating Kerry in their opening outing, Donegal suffered a reality check of sorts in Omagh as Tyrone dished out an eight-point hammering to their Ulster rivals. 

Disappointing Donegal were perhaps fortunate to find themselves only 0-6 to 0-3 adrift at the midpoint with their energetic hosts tearing various strips off the visitors in that first 35 minutes. 

Frank Burns and Cormac Munroe both got close to Shaun Patton in that period but blazed efforts high and over. Donegal had a good goal chance of their own - although it did fall their way in fortuitous enough fashion. 

Conor O’Donnell had looked to fist over the crossbar and when that strike rebounded back off the upright, it took the last ditch intention of Tyrone midfielder Brian Kennedy, on his own goalline, to deny the Naomh Conaill man the three-pointer. 

“The mistakes we made in the first four or five chances, that just gave Tyrone a bit of heart,” said Carr. “They came with a cluster of scores that left them comfortable and we didn’t do what we said we were going to do. The lads are exceptionally disappointed in there.

“There are a lot of lessons that we have to take to bounce back from that, because that’s not the type of scoreboard you want to see when you are playing Tyrone in here”.

Against the breeze in the second period, Donegal found the going even tougher with Tyrone picking them off with considerable ease. In the end, the Red Hand men outscored their neighbours there 0-10 to 0-5  to run out eight-point winners at the end.

“They were just a bit more clinical in terms of the attacks they had. You could see that they were right up for the game and again, it’s just the number of mistakes that we made coming out. Very simple mistakes in terms of giving away possession of the ball.

“We have to take the lessons out of this. We are a serious work in progress and there are a lot of other good Donegal footballers that are out there chomping at the bit to get back on the field in a fortnight. We are just going to have to take that on the chin and bounce back”.

Skipper Paddy McBrearty departed the fray with a worrying looking knock but the one plus from Omagh was the sight of Peadar Mogan back in a Donegal jersey. 

“I know Paddy was kind of holding his leg there. I haven’t had a chance to talk to him so I don’t know what the nature of that injury is. The medics are looking at him there. In Peadar’s case, we wanted to give him as many minutes as we possibly could and he’ll only get fresher as the weeks pass”. 

Donegal have two weeks to lick their wounds before they go to Monaghan in Round 3 of the NFL.

“There will be a kickback, I’ve no doubt about that,” added Carr. “There will be a number of players who will come back into the reckoning for that, I would say. I can’t say until I see how they go this week in training but they are recognised players who can make a difference.

“And we have a good number of young lads in there. One day things will go right for them, on another day they have to experience that as well. But that builds character. There is nobody feeling sorry for themselves in there. We are disappointed for the people who made the journey, but we know we are way better than that”.

In regards to the players currently on the treatment table, Carr says the likes of Ryan McHugh, Michael Langan, Eoghan Bán Gallagher, Oisin Gallen and Ciaran Thompson are closest to coming back into the reckoning. 

With Donegal’s Ulster SFC opener away to Down pencilled in for April 23, the manager agrees it’s a gauntlet in between attempting to get those absent up to match speed. 

“It’s a balance - it’s tricky doing that. We want the lads back but only when they are right. Championship is right off the back of the league and we can’t afford any of those players to suffer a setback simpy, because we’ve rushed that process”.