Rory Gallagher says it was unrealistic to expect Donegal "to compare with the top teams" in 2017.

Shorn of an abundance of experienced stalwarts, Gallagher's new-look team suffered heavy championship defeats at the hands of Tyrone and Galway as their encouraging league form proved to be a false dawn:

"I know at the end of last year I felt we came up the road beaten by Dublin knowing it was the end of the road clearly," the Fermanagh man reveals in The Irish News. "We got off light that night. Five points, we relied a lot on experience. I, for one, didn't expect these boys to just land on the scene and be able to compare with the top teams.

"We felt we had to invest heavily in the league, the lads did a lot of training. Physically they are trying to get themselves to a level, but this was a rude awakening. We have a lack of experience. There is Paddy McGrath and Neil McGee out of our defence - from goalkeeper to left half back they are the only two that played in 2014. All those lads are in their first or second year playing intercounty football.

"We know we are exceptionally inexperienced. You just don't arrive and compete with the big guns."

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