Second half sloppiness cost Derry against Donegal admits Ciaran Meenagh

Derry went into half-time leading the semi-final 0-9 to 0-7 after a more than encouraging half in difficult conditions. However an unanswered 1-07 from Jim McGuinness' team at the start of the second half provided Donegal a grip Derry couldn't loosen, despite Ryan Mulholland's injury time goal.

"I thought for 25 minutes we were really, really good. I thought we were defensively solid. That breeze died in the second half, so that was against a strong breeze in the first half," said the Oak Leaf boss after the 1-16 to 1-18 defeat.

"I thought our communication, our awareness of space in behind, the manner in which we attacked, was all very, very good but that wee bit of sloppiness probably crept in just before the half time and then we missed three two-point efforts at the very start of the second half.

"When you do that and then a team gets a run at you; Conor (Glass) was only to play 40 minutes tonight so when he came out - with Dan Higgins not being available, Brendan Rodgers not playing, Eoin McEvoy just not right yet either - we had some big men out, so they had a big platform across the middle of the field.

"There were 12 players that figured in the All-Ireland final (for Donegal) so we were playing against a good team tonight and that learning will stand us."

And despite the two point defeat, Meenagh believes the game provided a number of positives for Derry as they seek to finalise preparations for the league opener against Meath in Croke Park on January 24th.

"It's just the chemistry of the team playing together, getting back to being competitive, bringing games down the straight, finding new players as well on top of that; then getting your seasoned players back, getting football under their belt, those that were rehabilitating from injuries, etc..... it's all of those things. And it's a process of developing confidence then as well, added the Derry manager.

"Sean (Kearney) looked lively when he came on there and wasn't a bit afraid to take a pop. He moved between the lines well. I thought Conor McAteer started the game exceptionally well for his first start for Derry so, yeah, there's room to be optimistic with all the players that are to come back. It's healthy competition and we came through the game without any injuries as well so which is another positive."

"At half-time we felt we were in a good place and you would have thought we could have pushed on and won but had we pushed on and won we would have had another headache coming down the track against Monaghan.

"We will take the learnings, some disappointing aspects of the second half but that's only a negative if we don't learn from it. Now is a good time to learn and we hope to get our house in order for the start of the league and hopefully put that learning in place. You can't replicate competitive football like that in terms of being ready for the season ahead."