McGuinness distances himself from Donegal statement

Jim McGuinness has clarified that the Donegal management or players ‘had nothing to do’ with the statement issued by the county board last week.

In the statement, Donegal GAA said “the welfare of our players was not adequately considered" after the Ulster champions were fixed to play Monaghan in the All-Ireland SFC quarter-final just six days after their preliminary quarter-final win over Louth.

But speaking to the media after Donegal’s second half comeback at Croke Park had propelled them into an All-Ireland semi-final against Meath, McGuinness insisted that his team had no issue with the fixture.

"The management and the players knew that once we got beaten by Tyrone, we were going to be facing into three games in three weeks and that that was the way it is,” the manager outlined.

"The statement was released by the county board on the back, I think, of people in Donegal and clubs in Donegal not being happy. But as a management team, we were okay with the game. From my own point of view, you should never, ever make an excuse for a game before a game is played.

"I have never done that in my life and so I want to make sure that distance is there, because it's disrespectful to Monaghan.

"If we got beaten today and the first half followed through into the second half, people would say, 'Sure he was saying that during the week'. We had nothing to do with it. Nor did we know it was going to be put out into the ether until I read it myself on the phone.

"That's very important to say from a management point of view and the players point of view - we were happy to be here today. We got beaten by Tyrone and it was always going to be that way.

"It was always going to be three games in three weekends, suck it up and let's get on with it."