THE TASTE was sweet, but Cork weren’t quite sure what this win represented. Was it the real thing? Or was it a cheap imitation? Sugar versus saccharin. This was supposed to be the business end of the championship but Cork footballers left Croke Park as if they had been short-changed, knowing they would have learned more if Donegal had, well, put up a challenge. Any kind of challenge.

Conor Counihan, the Cork manager, would have preferred if his men had been asked tougher questions. Instead, it was as if someone had sneaked them the exam in advance and all they had to do was go through the motions of answering the questions.

It was all too easy, a litany of well-worked scores that could just as comfortably have come on the training pitch.

“I’m disappointed the challenge wasn’t greater,” admitted Counihan. What else could he say? “Donegal suffered the last number of weeks being on that road and that (performance) is not a true reflection of what Donegal are capable of.

“From our own point of view, it’s disappointing we haven’t been tested further. I don’t think we learned a whole lot. The reality was we played well at times, kicked a few good scores but we conceded scores as well.”

He added: “We are where we are, we’re in a semi-final. If we get out heads right, I believe we have a good chance of winning that semi-final . . . . it’s a question of getting our heads and attitude right.”

You win going away by 14 points and Counihan is asked if there are any positives? Apart from the win, obviously.

“Our forwards took their scores well, that’s the positive thing out of it . . . . but we were looking for a lively performance, looking for 70 minutes, and I don’t think we can accept that as the standard,” responded Counihan, unhappy that Donegal – despite being outplayed all over the park – had still managed to muster a return of two goals and a double-digits points tally.

As far as flying wing forward Paul Kerrigan was concerned, the big plus was the fact that all of the Cork forwards had chipped in with scores. “That’s what you get confidence from the most,” he remarked.

Kerrigan was one of those Corkmen who had danced on the new floor and had no complaints with the surface.

“It was perfect,” he said of the newly-laid grass imported from across the pond. But, then, he would say that after an afternoon’s haul which yielded a personal tally of 1-4 from play.

Rather than basking in his own glory, Kerrigan had a little sympathy for Donegal. “It was tough on Donegal, their third game against the top teams in the country in a row. So, maybe they were tiring a bit.”

Not that Donegal captain Rory Kavanagh was much in the mood for any sympathy. His was an honest assessment of a poor performance. “We were totally outplayed. We thought we were building a nice bit of momentum coming into the game on the back of two good wins (over Derry and Galway) but we were outplayed in the first 15 minutes.

“Everything Cork caught they seemed to put over the bar. It was a wee bit demoralising at half-time. We kept going, showed a wee bit of spirit, but, ah no, we were totally outplayed.

“I’m not going to make excuses about being tired or anything like that. We had a head of steam coming in but they are a big mobile side and once they got control around the middle of the park we had no answer to them,” said Kavanagh.

So, where to now for Donegal? “Well, I was just telling the boys inside there, if we can become a bit more consistent. We have to get back to Croke Park on a yearly basis and we’ll be a better team for it. When you’ve been in Croke Park one year and then there’s a big gap (of) three to four years, you can’t build the consistency you need.”

Donegal manager John Joe Doherty couldn’t put his finger on where exactly it had all gone wrong. “We’d prepared well, thought we definitely would have given a better account of ourselves . . . if we had been able to get in around Cork as much as Limerick did in the Munster final, I thought we’d have a good chance. Maybe the wide open spaces of Croke Park didn’t make that an easy job. We definitely didn’t succeed in doing that.

“Sizewise, (Cork have) big rangy lads. They’re in a good position to challenge for honours. They were the best team we played this year without a doubt . . . (but) going in to play Tyrone in an All-Ireland semi-final, this might not have been the best preparation.”

Nothing sweet about that thought.