The "big emphasis" that Donegal placed on the league last year came back to haunt them in the championship, according to sharpshooter Paddy McBrearty.

The Kilcar clubman believes the Tir Chonaill men expended too much energy in the league 12 months ago and their championship campaign suffered as a result.

"We put a big emphasis on the league last year in terms of our fitness," he revealed to RTE Sport at the launch of the Allianz League.

"This year, it's about trying to retain it as best we can, and trying to peak in the summer months. It was a learning curve last year, to be honest.

"We just hit a wall against Tyrone, we didn't really recover from that. Galway really caught us on the hop then in Sligo last year, and that was the end of our summer really.

"I think it was something we need to put behind us.

"The only positive is that a couple of young lads got a bit of championship experience, but it probably wasn't the kind of experience they would have wanted. But hopefully that drives them on for the coming summer."

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