‘There is still an awful lot for us to work on’
From Back Page best for them. Last year the team got criticised and challenged a lot in that regard, so it was important that the energy was there, then try to match that with quality. ‘We got all of that but there’s still an awful lot to work on,’ said the Donegal manager post match. On the face of it, there hardly seems to be that much work given that they handed out a double-digit hammering to a team hyped as promotion contenders, while fielding a team shy of regular starters in Shaun Patton, Caolan Ward, Michael Langan, Jason McGee, Conor O’Donnell and Oisin Langan among others. In the process, first starts were handed out to Gavin Mulreaney, Kevin McGettigan, Ciaran Moore and Domhnaill MacGoilla Bhride, adding to the sense that Donegal are building genuine depth. ‘We have given a lot of young lads their debut and game time today. ‘We need a squad and we need as much depth as possible, so we are developing those young lads as best we can in a short timeframe, and then we obviously have a number of lads to come back into it as well, so we need them up to full speed,’ added McGuinness, who may have star forward Gallen back in the fold for next Sunday against Cavan. ‘It’s his hamstring. It’s not even a tear. It’s just a strain that he picked up two weeks ago actually. ‘He played last weekend and felt alright and it just tightened a wee bit on him,’ McGuinness said. Cork manager John Cleary lamented his team’s no show. ‘Coming up here today was always going to be an ask and to be beaten is not the end of the world but the performance we would be disappointed with. We are capable of being much better. Last year, the most we were beaten by in any game was four points, so to be defeated like that on the first day was very disappointing,’ he said.