'We didn't do ourselves justice in the first half' - John McNulty

Donegal manager John McNulty believes that his side let a lot of chances slip away against Waterford in Walsh Park on Sunday which ultimately cost them the victory as they fell to the Déise on a 1-10 to 0-7 point scoreline. 

This result puts Donegal into a relegation play-off next month against the Division 2 league champions Kildare, who overcame McNulty’s troops in Letterkenny last January in the league. 

The winner of that match will play senior championship football in 2025, while the loser will play a crucial play-off decider the following week against either Tipperary or Laois. 

Donegal trailed 1-4 to 0-2 at the break against Waterford, with the former Kilcar and Aodh Ruadh manager stating that by the time his side burst out of the traps, they were already playing catch-up against the hosts.  

“I thought in the first half we were probably very flat coming into it, we didn’t do ourselves any justice in the first half and things just didn’t go right at all for us,” McNulty said following his side’s defeat. 

“Maybe it was the long journey or the sleepover, I can’t put my finger on it, but we have to put our hands off to Waterford, they were very good on the day.” 

In analysing the match, McNulty points to Donegal’s missed opportunities claiming that their flurry of wides may have drained some energy from his side, with the green and gold team missing four consecutive attempts midway through the second half.  

“I thought Waterford deserved their victory, but we had four or five chances that we put wide on the day . . . we needed to put them over the bar,” he said. “You put them over the bar and you’re closing in on the game and you’re in with a chance. 

“It’s a thing where, if you put those over, then you gain momentum, but when they don’t go over, it can sap some of the energy out of the players and then another goes wide, and we needed to get those scores at those times and we didn’t get them, that’s the reality of it.” 

Despite superb performances against Armagh in the Ulster final and Kerry in the group stage, Donegal failed to get the results needed to qualify for the quarter-final stages, but still looks at the positive strides made by the panel and hopes they can take the positive energy into their play-off match. 

“I think we have to look at the season we’ve had as a whole, there’s a lot of new players in there and a lot of rebuilding to be done. We’ve had a decent season so far, so now it’s about really cementing that now and win the next game and finish on a high,” McNulty claimed.