Donegal have it all to do against Dublin in their last game of the National League after failing to show against Mayo in Castlebar this afternoon.
Despite carving out an early 0-4 to 0-1 lead midway through the first half, Donegal played themselves out of the game.
A weaker midfield, sloppy hand-passing and an obvious lack of ideas throughout saw Donegal fall apart in the second half and eventually lose 1-10 to 0-9.
Jim McGuinness’ side looked short on ideas as their plan to pump long and early ball into Michael Murphy was foiled time after time.
The loss of Anthony Thompson after a second yellow card early in the second half and an injury to Neil Magee didn’t help Donegal’s cause.
Mayo went in at half time leading 0-6 to 0-4 and could have been further down but for Paul Durcan’s point-blank save from Jason Doherty’s effort.
Donegal managed to level the game 0-6 a piece early in the second half but Mayo then began to boss the game.
Michael Conroy put a nail into Donegal’s coffin when he slipped the ball past Durcan to make it 1-7 to 0-7 on 47 minutes.
It was a gap that Donegal just couldn’t make up.
Donegal continually picked the wrong option in the last third of the field.
Murphy managed to make it a two point game in the 63rd minute as McGuinness tried to encourage his side to push for the final ten minutes.
But Mayo managed to maintain the gap and eventually put more daylight between Donegal thanks in part to a brace of points from Enda Varley.
Donegal must beat an in-form Dublin in their last game and hope things don’t go Kerry and Mayo’s way in their quest to remain in Division One.