McGuinness: 'The management and the players knew nothing about the statement'

Jim McGuinness insists a statement released from the Donegal County Board on Monday night complaining about a six-day turnaround had nothing to do with him and his team.

The Donegal manager was speaking after his side’s 1-26 to 1-20 win over Monaghan in the All-Ireland quarter-final, where they had to dig deep having trailed at half-time by seven points, some six days after the 2-22 to 0-12 victory against Louth.

There was dissatisfaction in the county about having to line out so quickly and a statement was released on Monday night. However, McGuinness stresses he was unaware of the announcement until he saw it on his phone.

“The management and the players knew nothing about the statement,” he said in Croke Park. “There was an awful lot of noise and articles and stories. We weren’t happy with that.”

Donegal knew, following their 2-17 to 0-20 loss against Tyrone in the first round of the round-robin that their chances of topping Group 1 of the All-Ireland SFC Group 1 was a long shot, with the Red Hands having won the head-to-head.

Second or third place in the group, which also included Mayo and Cavan, meant a place in the preliminary quarter-finals and the possibility three successive weekends in action. After their loss to Tyrone, Donegal defeated both Mayo and Cavan to finish second in the group.

“We knew, having lost to Tyrone, that we were probably going to be facing three games in three weeks,” McGuinness added. “The statement went out from the county board about them not being happy and the people and the clubs not being happy, we were OK with the game.

“From my own point of view, you should never ever make an excuse before a game is played. I have never done that in my life and it would have been disrespectful to Monaghan. If we got beat today and that first half followed into that second half, people would say ‘sure he was saying that during the week.’

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“We had nothing to do with it, and the first I knew of it was when I read it myself on the phone. It’s important for people to know that, from the management point of view and from the players’ point of view, we were happy to be there today. It was always going to be that way after we lost to Tyrone and we had to suck it up. We’ll look forward to a semi-final now.”

Semi-final weekend is in two weeks' time, with Donegal awaiting to see who comes through the other three last eight ties.

“No other county has played as many matches as Donegal in this year's championship,” Donegal GAA’s statement on Monday read. “To compound the physical and mental demands, those eight games have been played within an 11-week window.

“Match number nine comes this Saturday, less than 12 weeks after playing Derry in the Ulster Championship Preliminary round on April 6.

"On that basis, we thought it wholly reasonable and fully justified to seek an extra day of recovery time for our players this weekend. Coiste Chontae Dhún na nGall concludes that it is most regrettable and very disappointing that our request has been turned down. We feel the welfare of our players was not adequately considered in the decision-making process”.