Donegal's fate is still in our own hands - Hugh McFadden

Hugh McFadden says Donegal are equipped to dig themselves out of relegation bother but they have to make the most of their time together prior to the visit of Mayo on Sunday week.

Another slow start in Armagh was followed by ‘a kitchen sink’ type approach to the second act. They got close to the coattails of the Orchard men twice at the Athletic Grounds but, a point adrift on both of those occasions, some poor decision-making in possession cost them striking level.

There was no shortage of effort, but the side really needs to clean up on its finishing and their slow exiting of the blocks. A lacklustre Donegal were perhaps fortunate enough to only trail by 0-7 to 0-3 at the midpoint.

McFadden - who was excellent at full-forward when sprung from the bench just before the break - agrees there is a frustrating pattern to Donegal’s efforts at this moment.

“Obviously, it’s always difficult losing,” he said afterwards. “We’re frustrated. We left ourselves a lot of work to do after the first-half. But we came back to within a point on a number of occasions in the second.

“Again, we’ve missed a lot of chances there so we’re annoyed on that front also”.

Conscious that the game could well be put beyond their reach if Armagh were allowed to once again dictate matters when things recommenced, there was much more urgency to the way Paddy Carr’s team set about its business.

And McFadden, as a constant focal point inside, certainly contributed to their change in fortunes.

“We mixed it up a little, you have to have that in the locker in modern football. But like I said, the first-half really hurt us. We simply didn’t cause Armagh enough problems. We didn’t penetrate them, we didn’t run hard enough. We were second best all over the field”.

In the end, Kieran McGeeney’s hosts crossed the line 0-13 to 0-10 as Donegal’s late gungho tactics allowed Armagh to turn them over and register with raiding counters. Pressed on whether Donegal’s energy was already spent trying to get back into the game, McFadden didn’t agree.

“No - I don’t think it was tiredness. It was just wrong decision making at crucial times. And when you’re caught on the counter attack, it probably looks like the other side has extra legs simply because they’re running into open or unguarded space.

“Bad decision making cost us and you’ll not get away with that any day, at this level. Division 1, the margins have never been tighter. You have to be on it every single day. We gave the ball away a lot against the likes of Monaghan and Tyrone also. And we just have to address that in these final two games”.

A fortnight will have passed by the time Kevin McStay brings Mayo to MacCumhaill Park. And with a visit to Roscommon on the cards in their final Division 1 outing, McFadden is adamant that Donegal can still pull the nose up on this NFL campaign.

“It’s in our own hands still. That’s all you can ask for. We’ve two huge weeks now to prepare for Mayo at home in Ballybofey. Ciaran Thompson came back in there and that’s timely. He’s a huge presence in our changing room and with another fortnight under his belt, he’ll be looking for even more game time against Mayo”.