Lacey says second title bid was doomed to fail

Donegal’s bid to string back-to-back All-Ireland titles together never stood a chance, claimed centre-back Karl Lacey.

The Four Masters club man revealed the squad were forced to play catch-up after returning to the training ground in mid-January and they paid the price in a 16-point quarter-final hammering at the hands of Mayo.

“Preparation was the big one for us,” admitted Lacey. “Preparation was nowhere near what it had been the previous year. Come January we were already two or three months behind the other teams.

“There are so many distractions when you win it and these things have to be done. You have to enjoy it because there is no point in training hard and doing everything if you’re not going to enjoy everything that comes with it.

“We had to go on a team holiday, there was the presentation of medals, there were different functions to attend and that’s all part of it.

“The holiday was at Christmas time so we didn’t get together until mid-January — that’s playing catch-up straight away. We had an up and down kind of a league, we had a few injuries early in the year. Things never really clicked — we never really had every man together. It was always messy.”

The Mayo crushing was a difficult one to stomach, but Lacey is adamant a second Sam Maguire triumph is well within the squad’s capabilities.

He said: “We got there last year so there’s no reason why we can’t next year. We brought a few younger lads in this year and gave them game time, the likes of Ryan McHugh, Ross Wherity. These are additions that will help us next year.

“It’s about regrouping and getting the heads right over the next few months.

“This is the time we didn’t have last year and we can use it to plan ahead. The wheels are in motion already.

“Jim [McGuinness] is hopefully putting plans in place in the back of his head about what’s going to be required over the next few months. Chatting to the boys over the last few weeks since the Mayo game and every man is keen to go and give it a big shot next year, preparing better than we did this year.”

Looking forward to Sunday week’s final, the All-Star defender believes Mayo’s long wait for All-Ireland glory will extend into the 2014 campaign.

“I think everyone is looking at Dublin and it’s very hard to look past them. They are the form team at the moment. Mayo are coming strong, but the depth and strength Dublin have in their panel, bringing on the likes of Dean Rock — and he’d get on any team in the country.

“It’ll be nip and tuck right to the end but I think Dublin’s strength will carry them over the line.”