Cork manager Peadar Healy said his side could have "no excuses" after their 10-point defeat to Donegal but insists they will bounce back from the battering in Ballyshannon.

The Rebels demolished Mayo in Pairc Ui Rinn first day out but went down 2-14 to 1-07 on Sunday.

"It's a disappointing performance," Healy told RTÉ Sport. "We can't have any excuses, Donegal were the best team out there today.

"They played better football than us, they were more physical than us and they adapted better to the conditions."

Cork didn't score for the first 17 minutes of the first half or until 26 minutes into the second but Healy is confident his players will learn from the experience.

"We had the opportunities to score and we should have taken them," he said. "We went for goals from 21-yard frees, stuff like that. We have to learn and improve - that's it."

"At the start of the second half, we just had no response to Donegal but the boys, to be fair to them, rallied well in the last quarter.

"Last Sunday we played very well. Today we were poor. We're not as good as how we played last Sunday nor as bad as we played today."

"It's all about learning and improving. It's up to us as management to get these players ready for the Roscommon game in three weeks' time.

"We can [get back on track]. We're working with a great bunch of footballers and they will respond, I've no doubt about that."

Donegal manager Rory Gallagher was happy to extend his side's 100% record though he wasn't getting carried away with the significance of that winning start.

“It’s great to have won two and it is probably unchartered territory for ourselves in Division 1 over the last couple of years in particular,” he said.

“To have won the opening games means we are in a good position, though we are well aware there are a few tough battles down the road in the second half of the league.

"It's very early in the year. We haven't a lot of work done.

"I'd say a lot of the main teams are the same, they just want to get their fitness built up over a period of time and look to peak for the summer."