As a forlorn Rory Gallagher held court with the media outside a dejected Donegal dressing room last night, the question, when it arrived, must have hit hard: ‘Do you intend being there next year?’.
Donegal’s players trundled past the huddled, out of Markievicz Park and still in their gear as the away dressing room’s showers were broken. It was that sort of an end to that sort of a night.
Gallagher exhaled and fielded the question.
Earlier in his post-match media briefing, Gallagher accepted that the knives would likely be sharpened in some quarters.
The question of next year came upon him heavy, though he didn’t have the demeanour of a man who had any plans on cutting short a tenure that was extended out to four years last autumn.
“We’re after coming off a tough day,” Gallagher sighed.
“All we were thinking about was getting over the line and getting another week in the Championship. That’s all the thoughts coming into it.”
The Donegal boss has been in the county and in the game long enough to know that there will be all sorts of charges left at his doorstep now.
He said: “Whatever comes, comes. I’m around long enough now. That’s the nature of it.
“I’m disappointed with today. I’m disappointed with the Tyrone defeat. We didn’t play to the level we wanted, but I knew it was going to be difficult.”
Gallagher pointed to inexperience and a lack of physical power as being two of the reasons for an insipid Donegal display that returned haunting memories of the pre-2011 summers of pain.
There were signs even early that a Donegal defence that was ropey at best and ragged at worst was going to struggle – and Galway exploded to lead 3-9 to 0-7 at half-time, when the curtain could’ve been closed.
Gallagher said: “We haven’t been at that level. We must remember we haven’t won any All-Ireland Under-21.
“We have good young players, but we knew it was going to be a challenge. Hand on heart, I was very much aware of that. We had a team that served Donegal well and I knew it was the break-up of it. You don’t just arrive and compete with the big guns.
Physically, they’re a lot more developed. They’ve won an All-Ireland Under-21 in 2011 and 2013, but we’re a team on a different edge of a different journey. It’s very difficult to compete physically.
“They were more physical. They were bigger and stronger all over the pitch. They were better than us. The second goal was a difficult one and the third goal left us with a massive task.
“They have to bed in. This is a tough day. It’s not easy, but it’s a test of character. The boys who ended up having good careers had a lot of very tough days.”
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