Donegal's current malaise has a lot to do with what's happening off the pitch, according to Sean Cavanagh.

Yesterday's heavy home defeat to Mayo has all but relegated them to Division 2 of the Allianz League next year and comes on the back of the fallout from Karl Lacey's departure as head of the county's underage academy.

"Karl Lacey departing was the opening of the Pandora's box," Cavanagh said on RTÉ's League Sunday programme.

"It's baffling for me, as a Tyrone man, much as a I love seeing Donegal suffer, the level of expertise and high performance they have in Karl Lacey, Jim McGuinness, Michael Murphy... they're generational-type winners and to let people like that disappear from a county fold all within a year, is shambolic really.

"You look at this disconnect that sometimes can be there in the GAA. You have to remember, the way the GAA is set up, there can be amateurs sitting on committees who are so far removed from the high-performance culture that exists within the mindset of those type of players.

"You just have a massive disconnect because Karl Lacey doesn't understand why the county isn't supporting him to try and push on the youth of Donegal to get them back to winning All-Irelands."

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