Eamonn Fitzmaurice was a happy man after Kerry opened their Allianz League campaign with victory in Letterkenny.
"We're delighted after coming the length of the country yesterday to get two points today," the Kingdom boss told RTE after his side's 2-17 to 1-17 win over Donegal.
"There was an awful lot of positive stuff from us. We played a lot of good football, but the last quarter we took our foot off the gas and Donegal really came back at us. We were just hanging on at the end, but overall it was very positive."
Fitzmaurice expects the game to bring on debutants Jack Savage, Jason Foley and Tom O'Sullivan no end.
"They all did really well and it's great education for the lads. It is a big step-up. No matter how much a player is told that, he must experience it."
He also attributed Kerry's late fadeout - the hosts scored six unanswered points in the closing 11 minutes - to a lack of experience.
"Donegal got a bit of momentum and we were probably tiring. We had a lot of younger lads on the field," he continued.
"Maybe there was a small bit of absence of leadership. It's something we will have to look at for next weekend. I don't want to take from the result, though, as it was a very positive performance."
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