'Jim McGuinness has galvanised Donegal football once more' – Barry Monaghan

Former Donegal player Barry Monaghan says it was always going to take the unique skills set of Jim McGuinness to unite Donegal once more following 2023's disastrous efforts on and off the park.

Donegal currently sit joint top of Division 2 alongside Armagh, following wins over Cork and Cavan in the opening two rounds. 

And while it is still a little premature to pass complete judgement on the team, former Donegal and Four Masters man Monaghan believes his former county teammate has already sparked an exciting and positive aura throughout the county. 

“It’s all been positive from a fan’s point of view so far,” he said. “Everybody has been waiting patiently over the winter months to see what style of football Jim was going to bring to the team, and now that we’re two league matches in, we can see that whatever Jim and his coaches are doing with the team, it’s working.

“We can see there’s a clear style in the team’s play. Going back to the Cork game, there was probably a bit of pressure on the players to perform and deliver a result, and they did that. We now have two wins from two, which is great.”

Donegal is also in the midst of welcoming back some of their injured personnel but Monaghan sees it as a chance for other players to increase their chances of playing and create competition on the panel ahead of the championship.

“We’re still very early in the season, but there’s a lot of players still out injured, so when they’re back it’s only going to increase competition for places and better the performance levels of the team at training and in games.” 

On McGuinness’s early style or tactical approach, Monaghan, who appeared more than 100 times for his county, said he was particularly impressed with the team’s high-pressing game, which results in much more ‘risk and reward’ play throughout the field.

“I really liked the way Donegal were pressing both Cork and Cavan. Once they lost the ball, they were pushing up so high, forcing the opposition to make mistakes.

“When you’re playing so high up the field, of course, that can have its risks and you can be caught if it doesn’t work out, but clearly there's been such belief and confidence drilled into this team that they are already good enough to get on the ball and do something with it.

“I think there’s such top talent on the team at the minute. I know it didn’t work out for us last season apart from that early league win over Kerry, and after that, for whatever reason, it just went on a downward spiral and problems were then found everywhere.

“I felt sorry for the players because the issues off the field fed into their performances on the field a bit. But this year everything is so positive.

“The whole county just wants to get behind the team and see the players do well. I think the team needed someone to galvanise the entire county and, to be honest, only Jim could really do that.”

Looking at the inter-county landscape so far this season, the Donegal Town man notices a sharp increase in Ulster foes Derry’s performances under Mickey Harte.

But Monaghan is confident that McGuinness has enough time before that huge Ulster SFC opener to form a plan for Celtic Park.

“Looking at all the inter-county teams so far, I know it’s early days, but Derry has really surprised me at the level they’re playing at. They just have so much talent at the minute and they’re using it to their advantage.

“Whereas I don’t think Kerry or Dublin are really lighting the world up just yet. So, there’s real talent in Ulster which means it’s going to be difficult.

“The positive thing is that Jim and his team have another few months to fine tune any details so that they’re ready to match Derry in the championship. And with the way they’re motoring at the moment, I think Donegal could be a match for anyone come the summer.”