Donegal lacked spark in Cork loss - McGuinness

Donegal boss Jim McGuinness admitted "there wasn't enough energy" in his side as they let slip a seven-point lead to lose 0-17 to 1-13 to Cork in their All-Ireland SFC round 2A game in Ballybofey.

McGuinness' side had been heavily fancied for Saturday's game as they looked to secure passage to the quarter-finals.

But Cork staged a comeback to reach the last eight, leaving Donegal with an unwanted extra game in round three next week.

"There wasn't enough energy in us, there wasn't enough fire, there wasn't enough spark in us," said McGuinness.

"It's really disappointing to be honest with you, we didn't do enough in the game.

"Cork came and they had the game plan to try and slow the game and take the sting out of the game but from our own point of view we just didn't do enough.

Donegal looked comfortable early in the second half as they led by seven, but six two-pointers - including four from Steven Sherlock who finished with 0-9 - sealed a famous comeback win for the Rebel County.

"I think just a couple of moments here and there that kind of cost us. We conceded a couple of free kicks, a couple of two-point free kicks, put them back into it," added McGuinness.

"The game changes very quickly then. Once that gap closes, in seven to five it really makes a difference on the scoreboard and the mentality and Cork sensed it then and you could sense that in the stadium that they sensed it and they kind of got after it more."

This was Donegal's third home championship loss in the past 12 months after their Ulster SFC quarter-final defeat by Down in Letterkenny in April and last year's reverse to Tyrone.

Although the blow is not fatal, it makes the road towards winning the Sam Maguire Cup a lot more difficult.

"It feels that way at the moment to be very honest with you. It's a really, really tough blow for us. We were very, very happy with our performance the last day.

"We're coming home, it's our second championship match this season we've lost at home, we lost last year as well against Tyrone.

"That's three home games in a row. That's not good enough, that just can't happen."

McGuinness added: "We had a long road last year. We had four games in Ulster and we had three games in a group. We still went into the preliminary quarter-final because we lost a game against Tyrone.

"We've only played half the games that we played last year. That shouldn't be an issue, really. We just have to dust ourselves down.

"We've got to go again. When we wake up tomorrow morning and realise that we're still in the Championship, even though we wanted to be heading to Croke Park on the back of this victory, particularly when you're playing at home in front of your own supporters, that's the part that gets stuck in your throat, really."