Jim McGuinness admits Donegal still aren’t where they need to be just yet 

Unbeaten Donegal are through to the league final and are going up as outright winners of Division 2 but Jim McGuinness admits his side has plenty of work still to get through. 

Their 1-18 to 1-10 win over Meath on Saturday night in MacCumhaill Park also sees them qualify for the league decider unbeaten. 

It took the hosts some time to get going in Ballybofey at the weekend after the Royals lamped in a goal almost straight from throw-in thanks to Cathal Hickey.

Disjointed Donegal finally landed an opening point 13 minutes in through Shane O’Donnell. Though the second quarter saw the hosts bang over another nine points to eventually go in 0-10 to 1-3 in front. 

“It was a very slow start,” said McGuinness after. “We were poor in the first quarter but we responded with nine points thereafter, before half-time. We have a lot of work to do.

“They attacked the throw-in, they gambled. And the goal gave them that wee bit of a platform. Our shot selection and decision-making in that time just wasn’t what it needed to be. 

“Once we found our angles and movement we were much better. So we’ll take that positive.

“When you look at the scoreboard at the end and there is 1-18 on it, clicking onto that story tonight, you’d be thinking it was a good night’s work. 

“So for the disappointment we had after the first quarter, we have to be happy with a lot of our play then afterwards”. 

Gauging his side’s league form overall, McGuinness has to be content with six wins and one draw, with their only points dropped coming away to their league final opponents Armagh. But the manager says there are areas of Donegal’s play that simply have to improve. 

“We aren’t where we need to be yet and we haven’t ticked all the boxes we want to. But we’re still winning games and putting up good scores. 

“We’ll continue to fine-tune. I do think the style we want to play, a dry ball will suit us better. There are always mistakes at this time of year but, definitely, there is work to be done”. 

Meanwhile, McGuinness says he’ll wait and see what his medical team have to say in relation to the seriousness of the injury picked up by captain Patrick McBrearty, which resulted in the player having to depart inside the first-half. 

Ryan McHugh was also called ashore after sustaining a heavy knock. But the latter’s complaint didn’t seem that serious. McGuinness is already nursing a pretty heavy injury list so he’ll hope that there isn’t a high-profile addition to that. 

“Patrick is the obvious one. We’ll just have to wait and see how it develops. We’ll not preempt anything. He had the ball in the middle of the pitch, pushed off and just felt something. So we just have to keep our fingers crossed that it's not too serious".