While Tyrone led for most of the game, there was always a sense in the second half of normal time that Donegal were ‘coming’.

Once it went to extra time the tired bodies of Tyrone, who had gone through 90 plus minutes the previous week against Cavan, were always going to struggle but it was the closing moments of normal time which were key as Donegal worked the equalising score through Brendan McCole.

“There were so many moments in that game where it could have fallen either way,” said McGuinness.

“Tyrone were brilliant in terms of gameplan and just kept the ball very well.

“They were patient themselves and played like a team that won the All-Ireland a few years ago.

“They had the smarts to know what the game is all about and are good enough to come into this type of environment and play that type of game. Niall Morgan was exceptional.

“They asked a lot of questions and sometimes you have to suck it up and find a way to try and respond and our decision-making started to improve.

“I just felt we must find a way, we must find a way.

“The longer the game went on, the more confident I felt that we could get over the line. We will were still making some bad decisions and moving in the right direction and I just felt that something would fall for us eventually.”