Mickey McCann happy with win but far from happy with the performance

Donegal manager Mickey McCann was very happy with his sides strong finish to claim the win in a seven-point victory over Roscommon,  

But the Burt club man was far from happy with the way his young charges lost their foothold for the 10 minutes either side of half-time.  

“We went seven points up and we were flying, and Roscommon started to get worried and drop bodies back and we took our foot off the gas completely,” he said. 

“The work rate stopped, and we were not happy, and Roscommon were clearly on top for the next 20 minutes. 

“And early in the second half we went three-points down after they hit a goal and a couple of points. We went from two up at half-time to fall three points behind.” 

But he was fulsome in his praise of the way his team responded when Roscommon put it up to them.  

“Looking back, that is the kind of character that you want to get asked of your team,” McCann said. 

“We made a few changes and the subs worked well and three of the changes Daire O'Maoileidigh, Jack O’ Laughlin and Paddy Kelly all scored. 

“Daire is such a smart hurler and he also got two points and Jack O’Loughlin, Peter Kelly and Seán Ward also made an impact from the bench as well. 

“That is what you want but the display was not what we wanted. We hit a lot of wides and Gerry Gilmore had some very rare misses. 

“This was a good result for us today, but the display was just up and down.” 

The win moved Donegal on to five points in the table to maintain second place behind unbeaten Derry.  

Tyrone suffered a surprise defeat at the hands of London, and they are now in fourth place. 

London will now travel to Letterkenny next week to face McCann’s side. 

“Tyrone are playing Wicklow next week and we are in a good place, but you never know what you are going to get with London.   

“London have Seán Glynn and big Eoin McHugh as key figures and Jack Golden and a few of the Kilburn Gaels lads too. 

“A point will do them to get into the League semi-finals and a point would do us too but really you want to be winning these games.”