Jim McGuinness was offering no excuses after Donegal’s 0-20 to 2-17 defeat to Tyrone on Saturday night.

The rare home loss leaves the back-to-back Ulster champions needing to beat a Cavan team buoyed by their shock first round victory over Mayo at Kingspan Breffni Park next Sunday to stay in the All-Ireland race.

“We didn’t turn up at all,” the Donegal manager conceded.

"We didn’t play, that’s the bottom line. We didn’t play, for whatever reason, and we were still two points up with seven minutes left on the clock.

“That’s not us. It’s not even remotely close to us. Everything was off. It will be a difficult review, I imagine. With seven minutes to go, we were in a position to win the game and we should have won the game. We have to live with that and it’s all up for grabs now.”

McGuinness added: “We couldn’t get our hands on the ball and when we did get our hands on the ball, we didn’t take care of the ball. That’s it in a nutshell. We gave the ball away and we never got the ball back again and they kicked five points.

“I don't know, maybe the conditions played some level of a part, but there were so many parts of our game that just weren't where they needed to be. We didn't manage the game well, decision making, where we were shooting from, energy levels, unforced errors, taking the ball into contact.

"There were just so many things, it's hard to know where to start. There are no excuses here whatsoever. Tyrone came in and had their plans. From our point of view, we just didn't produce.”

Tweet

Most Read Stories