It may not have been pretty for the most part, but a new-look defensive system proved supremely effective at Croke Park, where the Munster men crossed the finish line with three points to spare.

“We knew it was going to be a tight game, there wasn’t going to be much in it at the end, and thankfully we came out the right side,” said Fitzmaurice.

His decision to push Paul Geaney into the front line and hand ace finisher James O’Donoghue a withdrawn role paid off in spectacular fashion when the latter bagged a goal inside the opening minute.

“Paul Geaney is very strong over his head as well, and we’re fluid inside. It was something we had worked on over the past few weeks, not to be too predictable, tnat we would still maintain our fluid game that got us here all summer.”

Fitzmaurice maintained his trust in the system even through the testing times in the second half when nothing seemed to go right, his side hitting a rash of wides that threatened to demand a high price.

“We were creating the chances. We knew, after watching the Dublin game that we would get chances from distance. We had agreed that we would go for them, and if we got them, we got them, if we missed them, we weren’t going to be too worried about it.”

Donegal manager Jim McGuinness admitted that for once he was lost for answers.

“We didn’t perform to the level that we were hoping to perform to, and that’s the reason that we lost the game.

“Over the 70 minutes, we didn’t deliver what we know we’re capable of delivering, and that’s the most difficult thing,” said the 2012 All-Ireland winning boss.”

They were made to pay for mistakes, particularly goalkeeper Paul Durcan’s kick-out which handed a goal on a plate to Kieran Donaghy in the second half, but McGuinness put Donegal’s defeat down to collective failure.

“I wouldn’t go down the road of individual errors. Our collective just wasn’t good enough today and that’s very disappointing.

“In comparison to our performances throughout the year, it was just flat, then energy wasn’t there and the workrate wasn’t there.

When we did turn it over, we didn’t get up the field aggressively enough, we didn’t ask enough questions. When we did ask the questions, we were getting a bit of joy with scores, but we just needed to push harder, we needed to go more often and put more scores on the board.

“We know what we’re capable of, and we didn’t deliver to that level. That’s the disappointing part, and we have to put our finger on that. We know there’s a lot more in us.”