BRIAN MCENIFF COLUMN: Not a good day for Donegal in Roscommon

It was not a good day for Donegal in Roscommon on Sunday in the final game of the Allianz National Football League. We started off well enough against the wind. After 15 minutes we were still even-steven, but once they stretched out to three or four points, we could have wrapped up the tent and gone home.

We finished with nine points on the board and that’s not good enough. It would make you think where are you going?

After all the happenings of the last week, with the manager stepping away, it was a difficult time both on and off the pitch.

I thought somehow the players might rise to the occasion. And it looked good early on as they went head to head with Roscommon against the wind. Then all of a sudden, they started to score freely. I know they have some good scoring forwards and they rattled off some good scores but we folded.

You would have hoped for something better in the second half with the wind at your back but it was worse, we only succeeded in getting two points and the second point came almost at the full-time whistle.

The Alternative View: Kilcar colours to the fore in Dr Hyde Park, Roscommon

The Alternative View had to endure a long day in Roscommon as Donegal threw in the towel in a day to forget for supporters.

It was just very disappointing, especially the lack of fight. The players must have wanted the change of manager but you would think there would have been some gesture or fight to carry the game for three quarters at least.

But it didn’t last even to the end of the first quarter, or just about. Then with all the things unfolding, there was no support and in the circumstances it would be hard to carry support.

The big worry is that we have only just over three weeks to the championship and Down went down to Tullamore on Sunday in their final game and put up a big score.  It is a worrying time.

The only one good thing that has happened is that the two lads (Aidan O’Rourke and Paddy Bradley) are staying on. At least there is a bit of continuity.

But there is a severe lack of confidence at the moment and that is hard to understand given we have been in so many Ulster finals in recent times.

Going to Newry in the first round of the championship will not be easy. Down are no world beaters. The winners of that game play either Armagh, Antrim or Cavan and there is a chance to make an Ulster final if we could pull up our socks.

You just feel there has been a lack of sharpness this year. Scoring is something that we need to address but with Paddy Bradley there, a top class scorer for Derry, we can get better. We need to be taking scores and surely it is not that difficult to kick points from 30 yards out.

Down under Conor Laverty will have the Kilcoo lads back and they will be a better team than we met a couple of years ago. But we are going to amass more scores. We will need a couple of decent challenge games against decent opponents to get ready for this game.

There is not going to  be a mammoth change in the Donegal team and squad over the next three weeks. But we have to get stuck in and prepare well. It’s about getting the heads right and getting confidence into the lads. The two boys have been around and have played football to a high level.

Ryan McHugh will be an addition but it looks like Patrick McBrearty will not be available. We were down other bodies on Sunday and hopefully Stephen McMenamin, Oisin Gallen, Peadar Mogan and Dáire Ó Baoill will also be ready for the championship  action.

We have to be better. If we show the white flag in Newry like we did last week, they will put us to the sword.

All is not lost. I don’t think it has to do with fitness. The lack of confidence is the main thing. We have to get morale back up, work on our sharpness and getting scores. We also need to create more goal chances. We only got one during the National League and that was a penalty.

The big disappointment was not our relegation, but the nature of it. We went down with a whimper.

When you look at our hurlers getting to the league final, playing with 14 men for most of the second half, and still beating Wicklow in their own back garden in Aughrim.

Just take a look at our neighbours, Fermanagh, going to Cavan and securing promotion. That was one of the highlights of the weekend for me and we will be playing Fermanagh next year.

Also what about Monaghan surviving once again in Division 1. I know Mayo left 10 of the starting team off and that is sad for other teams. It led to Armagh being relegated.  But Monaghan still had the fight in them to go to Castlebar and win with Conor McManus leading the way at 35, scoring 1-7.

Commiserations to the Ladies, who were also relegated to Division 2 after losing to Mayo in Letterkenny.  It has been a very difficult year for them and with such a young squad maybe Division 2 is the best place for them to regroup.

We had a meeting of Co Committee last week on the Academy issue and hopefully we can now close the book on that and get on. We have to get football up and running at underage level.

Some of the teams are already in action and good luck to the minors who play in the Ulster Minor League final in Maghera on Saturday against Derry.

The U-16s are also out for their first game in the Buncrana Cup on Saturday and the U-20s were in action on Wednesday night against Antrim. So it is good that things are getting back to somewhere near normal there.

We also have the club leagues starting this weekend and I’m really looking forward to that

Brian McEniff was in conversation with Peter Campbell