Donegal manager Rory Gallagher described his team's performance as "nervous" and "edgy" following their five-point win over Longford in Saturday evening's Round 2 qualifier in Ballybofey.
A spurt of scores in a three-minute period just before the hour mark was enough to give Donegal breathing room in a dreary and claustrophobic match.
In an extremely low-scoring encounter, Donegal managed to trail at the break despite not having conceded a single point from play.
Placed-ball efforts from David McGivney and Robbie Smyth gave Longford a 0-04 to 0-03 lead at half-time.
The hosts were unable to wrestle free of Longford until after 55th minute mark with three points in as many minutes enabling them to open a 0-09 to 0-06 lead, a sizeable advantage in a game where points came dropping slow.
While both teams struggled to get scores, they excelled in the wides department with Donegal notching up 15 wides to Longford's whopping 17.
Gallagher told RTÉ Sport afterwards that he was encouraged by the team's defensive improvement but admitted the display was a disappointment.
"Obviously, defensively, we improved a good bit on the Tyrone performance," he said.
"But overall, as I said to the boys, it was a very edgy display, a very nervous display, and, in some ways, an immature display."
"We're very aware where we're at. The expectancy and the standards we have of ourselves are very clear within our set-up.
"To be honest, if you had given me a five-point win at the start of the day, we'd have 100 percent taken it.
"But we'd be disappointed with that display. We'd feel it's far short of the potential we have."
