EAMON MCGEE’S AFTERNOON was a fairly short one, but it perhaps said a lot about the day that was in it that the Gaoth Dobhair man was summonsed for media duties following a five-point defeat.
While Roscommon are heading the way of the semi-finals, it’s hard to know just where Donegal are at.
It was left to McGee to find some perspective.
“You have to remember that the older lads – myself, Neil Gallagher, Rory Kavanagh and the boys on the wrong side of 30 – were late coming back and we haven’t done the hard graft yet,” the defender said.
“Roscommon came here in great shape and it told that our tongues were hanging out after ten minutes. Even the speed of thought isn’t there.
“We’re not going to panic straight away. It is achieveable but we just need to put the hard work in now.”
McGee, Anthony Thompson and Gallagher were taken off early and while there are again surfacing concerns about the actual depth of Donegal’s panel, McGee insists that things haven’t regressed since the opening wins over Down, Cork and Mayo.
He said: “The boys who have come in are well able to look after themselves and the squad is strong. We have been talking about how strong it is – and that hasn’t changed.
“But when you’re missing a three-time All-Star (Neil McGee), it’s a big void in the team. “Neil would have relished the task in there.
“You also have to take in the fact that Frank McGlynn – big, big player for us – was also missing.”
Roscommon played with real zip, unity and purpose and they could well have had the win sewn up in the first half. In Neil McGee’s absence, Donegal were susceptable at the back – and Roscommon took full advantage.
Eamon McGee said: “It was a rare enough game the way they came at us in the first half. It’s a long time since I experienced that, a team coming at us in that amount of space. We made a high press and they got in behind us.
“They could have been way ahead. We’re about long enough not to panic. Five points isn’t much. We could have banged a goal with Paddy McBrearty and Michael Murphy knocking around. Realistically, we knew that a goal would get us back in..
“We left ourselves with too much to do. We showed a good bit of bite to get to within two points.”
Donegal return to Allianz League action on Easter Saturday when they take on Dublin in Croke Park with an away game against Monaghan, in Castleblaney eight days later.
While Donegal’s players go back to their clubs next week, it gives them plenty of time to correct the wrongs of the last two weeks.
McGee said: “We set a high standard for the panel and for ourselves. The standard wasn’t met and we’re very disappointed. We let a gap build up too much and we were caught on the hop.
“The same as against Kerry, we gave away a lot of fouls. We have to look at that. Instead of saying ‘we’ll have to sort that’…we’ll have to do something about it instead of talking about it.”
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