Brian McEniff column: Referee decisions take sting out of our comeback in Armagh

It was another disappointing outing for Donegal in Armagh on Saturday evening. It was a game we could have won, a game I’m not saying we should have won, but it was within our reach in the final minutes.

We got a bit of flak for our performance on RTE on League Sunday on Sunday night from Ciaran Whelan. We seem to get a lot of flak from analysts on RTE most of the time. But in saying that, Whelan made a serious point about our performance, especially in the first half. Our passing was going nowhere. It was like pass the parcel with nobody taking responsibility to take a score.

And in saying all that there were aspects about our performance that were very pleasing. We seemed to be out of the game on a couple of occasions and we showed spirit to come back.
We gave the ball away too many times and they were able to stretch the lead out to four again, but once more we came back to be just a point down with time almost up.

There were a number of disappointing decisions by the referee late in the second half that cost us. Their midfielder, Jarlath Og Burns overplayed the ball and ran into a cul-de-sac and it should have been a free out. The free put them two up again and it was a major call in the game.

We were on a wee bit of a roll at the time as we had hit three points in quick succession from Ciaran Thompson, Jamie Brennan and Jason McGee. That free that gave Armagh the two point lead finished us. We had a few late chances but we had to go for goals then.
We should remember that Armagh were playing at home and they are not easy to beat there. Mayo found that out a few weeks ago.

But after a poor start, we got back into the game and showed a good bit of spirit. But we are just not consistent enough over a full game. I would not be unhappy with a lot of aspects of our play. The defence played well enough, we didn’t give Armagh a goal. We had a reasonable share of ball in midfield but we didn’t punish enough up front.

The win leaves us bottom of the table and we have a fight on our hands now to stay in Division 1 of the league. We have two games left and it looks as if we have to win both of them.

Mayo are next up in Ballybofey and they are more or less qualified. It will be interesting to see how they look at their game against us.

But it is up to us now. We have to go and win that game and we have enough players playing well to do that. Remember we are playing at home in MacCumhaill Park, Ballybofey and that should be an advantage. Games between Donegal and Mayo have been very close in the league with draws very common in recent years.

We have Ciaran Thompson back and with another couple of weeks’ preparation he will be ready to make a serious contribution the next day. We need all the players to be up to speed now as the championship is just over a month away. But before that our short term aim has to be winning the Mayo match. That would leave us with our league destiny in our own hands heading to Roscommon for the final game.

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We cannot be hoping that Monaghan and Tyrone will draw. Seven league points has to be our focus.

Our goalkeeper Shaun Patton had a good night in Armagh, making one great save to deny Murnin and he will be happy with a return of two from three from his kicks at goal. I’m happy enough to see him coming out now to take those kicks outside the ‘45’. He is a great striker of a dead ball and Saturday night’s return will give him further confidence. If he can have a good return it will be a boost for his team.

The other big talking point from Saturday night’s game was the disappointing support that Donegal had at the Athletic Grounds. Armagh must have had a 20-1 advantage at least in the crowd of 12,582. Other counties seem to be well ahead of us in supporting their team at the minute. And it’s when things are not going well that you really need the support.

We have to get out in big numbers for the Mayo game in Ballybofey because you can rest assured the Mayo supporters will travel in big numbers as they do to every game.

ACADEMY
I haven’t heard anything about what is happening at the Academy in the past week although I hear it was discussed at the county board meeting on Monday night. The sooner they get a replacement the better. Maybe some of those coaches who stepped down might come back in as it appears that an arrangement with Karl Lacey is not happening.

I was happy to hear that our minor footballers had a good win at the weekend, albeit against a weak Fermanagh side. Still they are two from two and that’s something positive. The U-20s also had a good win down in Mayo, which will be a boost before they start the championship.

Good luck this weekend to the hurers as they take on Wicklow in O’Donnell Park, Letterkenny this Sunday. Congrats to them on winning the McGurk Cup recently.

Brian McEniff was in conversation with Peter Campbell