Tyrone 'can hold heads high', says 'devastated' McShane

Cathal McShane insisted Tyrone players "can hold our heads high" after a devastating extra-time defeat by Donegal in the Ulster semi-final.

For the second week in a row the Red Hands were taken to an extra 20 minutes of championship football and came up short losing 0-18 to 0-16 at Celtic Park.

“We really believed we would come here and win today and credit to the lads, they never stopped," said McShane.

“It’s complete devastation because you want to win trophies and silverware.

"We had 90 plus minutes again and we fought right to the end. I think we can be proud of that and hold our heads high."

Tyrone have three weeks to regroup for the All-Ireland series while Donegal march on to an Ulster Final against Armagh on 12 May at Clones.

Donegal found a way to answer the problems Tyrone posed for them in the opening half.

And despite leading for most of normal time, Tyrone couldn’t hold on and once it finished 0-14 apiece with extra time to come, it always looked like a big ask for a team that had already played extra time against Cavan in a first round win seven days earlier.

“It’s hard to put it into words at the end. We fought very hard and just came up short. It could have gone either way," McShane said.

“In the game I thought we looked good, we felt good, and right up to the first half in extra time I thought we did well - but maybe in the second half the bodies were wearing thin.

“Obviously we don’t like losing, we never like losing, and we want to get back on track and focus now on what’s ahead.”

Tyrone manager Brian Dooher congratulates Donegal boss Jim McGuinness after an epic tussle at Celtic Park

All Brian Dooher wanted was for his players to leave everything out on the field and they certainly emptied the tank for the jersey.

The Tyrone manager admitted the intensity of the game, and the extra time on top of the 90 minutes against Cavan seven days earlier, “tests everything, mentally and physically”.

“I can’t speak higher of them or ask any more of them.

“They probably just ran out of juice a wee bit - but it’s no shame after the two weeks they had.

“The bodies were a bit sore and it was just a bit too much in the end up.”

While Donegal were recalling established names like Patrick McBrearty, Jamie Brennan and Daire O Baoill off the bench, Tyrone were bringing on young players like Aidan Clarke, Ben Cullen and Aodhan Donaghy into the white heat of battle.

It was some learning curve but Dooher was heartened by what he saw.

“Maybe we hadn’t that wee bit of energy or wee bit of zip to create the scoring opportunities but I can’t fault the boys because they gave everything and will benefit so much from that experience.

“You know what? If I get that every day I can’t ask for more. That’s all we expect, it’s all we want, and I’d say Tyrone supporters are the same.”