'To say ‘Rory Kavanagh had got the Donegal job’ is a bit disingenuous'

Rory Kavanagh has said he was never interviewed to take over as Donegal senior team manager last October. 

On the wake of Declan Bonner's departure, Kavanagh had been tipped in certain quarters to take over as Donegal boss following last year’s Donegal SFC, where his St Eunan's side lost 1-9 to 2-5 against Naomh Conaill in the final, with Shane O’Donnell controversially sent off late in the first half.  

The now 41-year-old Kavanagh insists the Donegal job was never guaranteed to be his, having been linked with a backroom team believed to have included Karl Lacey, who was head of the Donegal GAA academy at the time, and 2012 All-Ireland winning manager Jim McGuinness.

“I was still involved with St Eunan’s and had a very important role there,” Kavanagh said at 'From Castle Tales to Croke Park Legends' - a fundraiser for his old school, St Eunan's College, where he was joined on stage with former Donegal teammates Michael Murphy, Colm McFadden, Neil Gallagher and Brendan Devenney, with Charlie Collins the MC.

“The first time we had serious discussions about that job was in September," Kavanagh added. "It was with Karl Lacey - someone I have the utmost respect for - and I got involved in that process, probably against my better judgement, if I’m being honest. 

“But look, yes, the county final happened. There were things during that which we weren’t happy with. We were still involved in the middle of a championship initially and I got involved because of Karl. When he comes and asks you to get involved, you think about it seriously. But things didn’t work out.

“We must be the only county where you get a job before you do an interview. There was no interview done. To say ‘Rory Kavanagh had got the job’ is a bit disingenuous to everyone else. If you do an interview, then they decide. Our name was thrown into the hat when we met two county board officials and there was a process and confidentiality was supposed to be part of that.

"We had to follow a process. There was talk about Jim taking over and talk about Malachy O’Rourke, another very credible candidate, who stepped out of it. It’s such a big role. But you need experience under your belt and it wasn’t the right time for me."

Michael Murphy: 'We need to use 2023 and not write off the year'

Former Donegal captain Michael Murphy confirmed he will not be making an inter-county football return and has urged supporters to get behind the team during an uncertain period both on and off the field

Donegal, last season, were knocked out in the All-Ireland first round qualifiers against Armagh on June 12 and Kavanagh said he had no contact from the Donegal County Board till three months later. At the time, St Eunan’s were in the middle of the defence of their Donegal SFC title, which they won in Kavanagh’s first year at the helm in 2021.

“I had to protect my club and my team, although the confidentiality seemed to go out the window," he added. "That had a negative impact and I’ll learn from that as it took away from St Eunan's. It caused an unnecessary distraction. I probably shouldn’t have got involved in that, with that sort of clamour to come. I learned the hard way. 

"Declan probably knew it was going to be his last year. County board officials probably knew it was going to be Declan’s last year. The (Donegal) boys got knocked out in June and I was only approached in September. That’s a long time.  I had to stand back and think what was right for me and what was right for my family. And was the timing right? And ultimately the time wasn’t right to go into a job of that magnitude. 

“It’s disappointing but I had to weigh up where I was at with my own life and with my family. After the county final, I felt there’s still a bit of work to be done with the boys (St Eunan’s).

“We hadn’t been in a county final since 2015 and then we were in back to back finals. We had a massive achievement in year one followed by a serious disappointment in year two. Ultimately I felt that team could develop a bit further and could I offer something to them. I spoke to the players and that was the road we decided to take as a team.”

With Kavanagh having made his mind up to lead St Eunan’s for a third season, Paddy Carr was eventually installed as Donegal manager in October, alongside head coach Aidan O’Rourke.

Carr resigned before Donegal’s final Allianz League Division 1 match, which was effectively a dead-rubber with relegation all but confirmed. O’Rourke took charge as Donegal went down heavily, 0-21 to 0-9, in Roscommon and they then were ousted from the Ulster SFC to Down in Newry, on a shoreline of 2-9 to 1-11.

Since Bonner left, Donegal have won one, drawn one and lost eight of their last 10 games. They play Clare in Ennis on Saturday in the first series of fixtures in the new round of 16, with clashes against Ulster champions Derry and then Monaghan to come.

Perhaps as hot a topic in recent months was the resignation of Lacey from the GAA academy, followed out the door a week later by the coaches and support staff, which number approximately 40. 

An independent review into the running of Donegal GAA is expected to be completed by the end of May following a county board meeting last month attended by GAA Director General Tom Ryan.

“My take on that is that it wasn’t a planned set-up,” Kavanagh added of the ticket of Carr and O’Rourke. “It was maybe a meeting of two individuals rather than a management team. The team was probably set up to fail. That became very evident. But for me, you have to go back to the source. When a statement appears in the papers that an academy director, and the coaches, lost all faith in the governance of Donegal GAA then you have to start there and you have to find out why.

“We have to get to the bottom of that. That will take some doing. Will the review even uncover that? I wouldn’t hold my breath. We’ll see but there will be some uncomfortable truths. Ultimately, it’s going to be a job for the clubs if they don’t find a satisfactory outcome from the review. The clubs will have to go back and ask the hard questions about the process, about the appointments and why it took so long.”