Jim McGuinness happy with display amid 'gruelling' schedule

Donegal manager Jim McGuinness stressed that his team had come through a "gruelling schedule" but that they were very happy to wind up back in Croke Park.
The Ulster champions shook off the challenge of Louth in the third quarter, Ciaran Thompson's second half goal enabling them to canter home with some ease on a 16-point scoreline.
The win sees Donegal into the last-eight again, with another clash against Monaghan the reward after this morning's draw.
That will be their ninth game of the season, having won the Ulster title from the preliminary round but McGuinness is ultimately satisfied with where they are, after the jolt of their home loss to Tyrone in the group stage.
"It's tough, it's very, very tough," McGuinness told RTÉ Radio 1's Sunday Sport after the game. "I think everybody is in the same boat. It's tough in terms of the players. This is our eighth game today, which is a hell of a lot in a 12-week period, with how attritional it (the game) is.
"The schedule is very, very gruelling. But at the end of the day, we're very happy. We're very happy to be heading to Croke Park.
"After Tyrone beat us in Ballybofey, we knew we were going to play three weekends in a row. And we had to win the first two to get to the third one. That's what we've done. We're heading to Croke Park and that's the most important thing."
As for the performance on Sunday, McGuinness was mostly satisfied aside from some sloppiness in possession in the first half, which they ironed out after half-time.
"We'd be happy with a lot of it. In the first half, we did a lot of things really well. And then we were a wee bit sloppy as well. We didn't take care of the ball well and we dropped a lot of ball short.
"In today's game, you can't do that. You're working hard to turn it over. And then you're going up the pitch and you're trying to break the opposition down and then you hand them the ball.
"And then you have to run the whole way back again and defend again. That had an impact on us. It gave them a good impetus in the game.
"In the second half, we took care of the ball a lot better. Both kickouts, we were happy with overall.
"Our transitional play was very good in the second half. We made a lot of good decisions. We weren't in that situation where we were sloppy in possession so we didn't have to do the same level of running we had to do in the first half."
The Leinster champions' preparation was slightly disrupted when their bus took a wrong turn on the way to Ballybofey. They requested the game be delayed for a short while but this was refused.
While the scoreline was lop-sided in the finish, Louth did enjoy a purple patch with the wind in the first half though couldn't properly capitalise.
"They're Leinster champions. We played them twice last year. In Ballyshannon in the league, we beat them by a point and then we had a very tough battle in the quarter-final.
"We knew what Louth were going to bring. They've a lot of very good players and they're used to playing with one another. They ask a lot of questions of you, they're physical, they're big men and they run the ball hard.
"There's no game now ever going to be finished at half-time or 20 minutes into the second half. These games are hard fought and you have to be ready for that."

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