McGuinness rueful as Donegal miss big opportunity

Jim McGuinness felt "battle-hardened" Galway's greater experience helped earn the Tribesmen victory in Sunday's tight All-Ireland SFC semi-final at Croke Park

Jim McGuinness made no attempt to hide his disappointment as he reflected on a missed opportunity after his Donegal side were edged out 1-14 to 0-15 by Galway in a tense All-Ireland Football semi-final.

Regrets there were a few - notably his side's poor conversion rate of only five second-half scores from 14 chances after they had accumulated 10 from precisely the same number of opportunities in the first half which left the interval scoreline 1-7 to 0-10.

McGuinness rued Paul Conroy's fortunate first-half goal as the midfielder's shot from distance deceived Shaun Patton, who appeared to be unsighted by Matthew Tierney's presence on the edge of the square.

"A goal in gaelic football at the moment is a big, big score but our reaction to that was absolutely fantastic," said the Donegal manager at his post-match news conference.

"We had 10 points on the board from that position going in at half-time so in terms of a blow, it wasn’t a psychological blow."

The Donegal boss made clear that he was irked by a number of calls by referee Brendan Cawley in the tight contest but beyond mentioning the whistler's decision not to award Ryan McHugh a free in the first minute, didn't go into specifics.

"There was a number [of decisions] today that we wouldn’t have been happy with.....I don’t really want to go there. It is what it is."

'Oisin could kick that over in his sleep'

McGuinness acknowledged that Donegal's failure to take their second-half chances ultimately cost them the chance of another meeting with Armagh - who they beat on penalties in the Ulster Final two months ago.

The Donegal boss picked out an uncharacteristic missed free by Oisin Gallen in the 66th minute which would would have levelled the contest.

The Sean MacCumhaills clubman pulled his shot wide from near the sideline some 25 metres out as Donegal were held scoreless in the final 15 minutes of action.

"The game ended a two-point game. The goal was very fortuitous. We had two brilliant blocks defensively and the ball fell to a Galway man [and they got scores].

"Those wee bits and pieces and Oisin misses a free…..he could kick that over in his sleep. I’ve seen him do that every night in training…..these wee bits and pieces and you think ‘maybe it’s going to be a wee bit more difficult today than it should be’."

McGuinness also felt the loss of the strong-running Eoghan Ban Gallagher to injury in the third quarter was a major blow to his side.

"We ran out of steam a wee bit coming down the stretch. Galway looked a wee bit more battle-hardened that us and maybe that experience of two years ago [losing the All-Ireland Final against Kerry] was beneficial to them.

"Losing Eoghan Ban was a big loss and a big moment in the game. He had made a brilliant incision and got fouled. Those driving runs were missed as well coming down the stretch."

McGuinness, not usually a man who struggles to come up with answers when it comes to gaelic football, admitted his surprise at how his team's "batteries ran down a wee bit" in the closing stages.

"I don’t have the answer. Over the next couple of days, the answer will probably start to appear…..on the way down on the bus with the coaches when we are having a chat, getting our heads round it and trying to make sense of it.

"It’s difficult to walk out of a dressing-room and into this room and be clear about what exactly happened."

'No such thing as year one'

The Glenties man was having nothing of any suggestion Donegal could take any comfort in this being year one of Jim McGuinness 2.0.

"People talk about year one and all this. There’s no such thing. It’s this year and this was an opportunity this year.

"We had an opportunity and we felt we were in a really good position at half-time. We felt if we could have kept it together and pushed on for 15 minutes, we could have potentially seen the game out. It didn’t pan out for us that way.

"We’ll have to take that on the chin and we’ll have to move on and take as many lessons as possible from that. 2024 was on the line today. Armagh grasped that nettle yesterday."

Galway boss Padraic Joyce's main emotion was relief after a game which he admitted "could have gone any way" as he heaped praise on his players for producing a display which suitably honoured the memory of two-time All-Ireland winning Tribesmen manager John O'Mahony, who died last weekend.

"A fantastic day for us. Semi-finals are for winning," said Joyce.

"Overall I thought it was a brilliant game. I thought both teams went at it in the first half. It was 1-7 to 0-10 at half-time and Donegal kicked some great scores."

The Galway boss felt the experience his side have gained in recent years ultimately made the difference in the heat of battle.

"Our lads were probably a little bit more mature and further down the track as a developing side than Donegal.

"Donegal have come an awful long way from where they were 12 months ago and fair play to Jim and the county board and the boys."

Joyce hints he predicted Galway-Armagh final

Joyce said defeat by Donegal would have rendered the stirring quarter-final victory over defending champions Dublin "a damp squib".

"We obviously enjoyed that Saturday night after Dublin and the lads got back down the work the following morning.

"They did a recovery session at Blackrock in Salthill like they always do. The lads were mighty and just focused on Donegal."

As for the final against Armagh in two weeks, Joyce hinted that he had predicted as much in a text to Orchard County boss Kieran McGeeney following their drawn encounter in last month's concluding round of the Super 16s.

"If you ask Kieran McGeeney what I was texting him that night that will answer the question for you," said Joyce when asked he had considered whether the sides might just end up meeting again in the All-Ireland decider.

Joyce's side lined up in a letter V during an emotional pre-match video tribute paid to the county's former boss O'Mahony on Croke Park's big screens.

"The man has meant so much to me personally and to the Galway players.

"Our WhatsApp group from 1998….the lads were absolutely heartbroken and you can’t be heartbroken unless you love someone."