Declan Bonner rejected suggestions that Michael Murphy has stepped aside as Donegal’s penalty-taker following his miss against Tyrone last year.
Murphy has long been entrusted with taking Donegal’s spot-kicks but the captain passed responsibility to Paddy McBrearty against Mayo, though Rob Hennelly saved his kick and it was costly as the ‘home’ side fought back to earn a draw.
Last year, Murphy missed from the spot against Tyrone at a critical juncture of the Ulster semi-final, which Donegal went on to lose to the eventual All-Ireland champions though Bonner denied that this was a factor.
The Donegal boss said: “Michael has been about long enough now and I don't think that will affect him.
“He's an experienced campaigner. It's a decision that's left to the players on the pitch at the stage to see who wants to take it.
“It's disappointing because if we had scored the penalty, it was game over probably.”
Elsewhere, there was some controversy over a pointed free by Mayo’s Ryan O’Donoghue in the second half which some observers felt had tailed wide.
Bonner admitted: “From where I was I thought it had gone wide. But at the end of the day we had our chances, we should have been well clear at that stage.
“It's disappointing naturally enough that we didn't see it out. I think the only time that Mayo were level when was then they kicked that last point to equalise
“But listen, we'll take the point and we'll move on.”
Mayo manager James Horan was minus a number of key men but was gushing in his praise of Jason Doherty and Brendan Harrison, who made their first starts in quite some time after injury lay-offs.
He said: “Jason Doc and Brendan Harrison are immense guys. Doc had the pitching wedge out instead of the three iron. If he hit a few of those lower, he had a few great goal chances but his work and his application inspires people around him, it genuinely does.
“Harry dorve forward well a couple of times for us so it was great to get those lads back and we’ll have four or five extra back next week now so look, that’s a very important performance for us today.”
And Horan’s hoping to have several others back in contention for the trip to face Monaghan in Clones next Sunday.
“Oisin [Mullin] will be in contention, Enda [Hession] will be in contention, Lee [Keegan] will be in contention, Mark Moran is going very, very well, David McBrien is going very well as well so they’re pushing.
“There’s a couple of guys, Michael Plunkett is going very well and we didn’t use him today so there’s good competition building there and, lookit, we’re happy with how it’s progressing.”
Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts
