McGuinness looking at ‘bigger picture’ with eyes now firmly locked on Celtic Park

Jim McGuinness and Donegal are in a hurry.

They are in a hurry to get promoted and they’re in a hurry to get some really important bodies back in contention.

If Donegal can get the job done against Kildare, in Dr Cullen Park, Carlow, on Saturday week, they’ll as good as punch their ticket back to Division 1.

However, that would still leave a home clash with Meath and a league final outing at Croke Park, more than likely against Armagh, to contend with.

If McGuinness and his players do, as expected, get over the line against the Lilywhites that would leave five weeks between then and their huge Ulster SFC clash with Derry, at Celtic Park, on Saturday, April 20.

Donegal went into last Sunday’s clash with Louth, in Ballyshannon, without Eoghan Ban Gallagher, Jason McGee, Caolan McColgan, Caolan Ward, Niall O’Donnell and Conor O’Donnell.

But prior to throw-in, it was revealed that Brendan McCole’s foot was in a protective boot and both Stephen McMenamin and Hugh McFadden would start on the bench.

So the sooner McGuinness can tick off promotion, the sooner he can set about getting a gameplan locked in for Mickey Harte and the Ulster champions.

If Donegal are to upset the odds against the Oak Leafers, McGuinness is simply going to need most, if not all of his full deck, available.

Gallagher - in the most innocuous of fashions - tweaked a groin against Cavan a month ago and hasn’t been seen since.

The manager admitted after the draw in Armagh that the Killybegs man is probably furthest down the list in terms of a potential return.

“Eoghan has a bit to do. He picked up a groin injury when he was going down for a ball. He’s working through that. We’ll have to see if he will see action in the league but he’s doing well.

“Anyone who knows Eoghan knows he will do everything he can and he’s as professional as there is so we’ll have to wait and see. It’ll be another few weeks, definitely.”

Reading between the lines, that candid enough revelation means the player is now in a real race against time to be ready for championship.

McGuinness explained that McCole picked up a knock early on against the Orchard men but carried on.

He was due in Dublin on Wednesday for a scan but McGuinness seemed to suggest his own medical team were optimistic enough on a positive outcome there for the Mountcharles man.

“In the first minute, coming out of defence, Brendan was trying to get free and he released the ball. He felt a pain in his big toe. He’s seeing a specialist. But it could be more innoxious than we first thought.

“It’s difficult. You want everyone there and to be working with them. That’s when you really understand and get a feel for exactly what you’ve got. And you also get a gauge on the tactical flexibility of the group.

“Right now, we’re restricted in that sense. So, yeah, we’ll welcome them all back with open arms when they’re available. And thankfully, they are becoming available once more”.

Michael Langan is a player that has come back in the mix recently and as the St Michael’s man continues to get back up to speed, there is also positive news on Jason McGee.

McGuinness sees that pair as an aerobic and powerful duo that are also as technically good as anything else out there in the middle of the park, around the country.

But the clock continues to tick. Brendan Rogers and Conor Glass are at full tilt right now. That might be an issue for Derry down the line but in the here and now, it simply means top gear is there to be reached for in April.

“Jason got good news about ten days ago so he’s just working his way back now. We’re hoping to have him back training Tuesday week, fully integrated, but the numbers will dictate a lot of that.

“I know I say this every week but they’re all close. We’re working hard with the medical team and looking at the bigger picture”.

Harte, it seems, has already set his sights on the bigger picture after he decided to make seven changes to the side that previously defeated Galway, in Salthill, for the visit of Dublin last Saturday night.

There was huge anticipation ahead of the All-Ireland champions’ tangle with Derry but the Oak Leafers' team selection dampened the pre-match sense of excitement somewhat as Dessie Farrell’s side ran out 1-16 to 1-11 winners.

Some pundits believed that Harte simply didn’t want to go toe to toe with the Dubs this early on in the season.

But given the former Tyrone manager’s dismal record against McGuinness in Ulster, the real truth may well be that he’s now zoning in on that task.

Derry went into their meeting with the All-Ireland champions off the back of four consecutive wins and will face Mayo away and Roscommon at home in their final two fixtures of the regular league season.

They aren’t in any danger of relegation and the likelihood right now is that they’ll more than likely also make a league final, albeit the Division 1 decider. Those clashes, on Jones Road, are pencilled in for the last weekend in March.

That would give both McGuinness and Harte three weeks to get their championship plans together.

So it’s not beyond the realms, in Donegal’s case in particular, that both counties could well field fringe teams on Jones Road with all eyes, at that stage, firmly set on the big picture.

There are players that will simply need competitive minutes in their legs. But even though there will be silverware on the line, it would be crazy to needlessly risk the majority.

“It would be brilliant to have the chance to look at players and have some of the lads not available at the moment back in the squad. That would be a bonus. It’s still a league final and a brilliant opportunity to play at Croke Park.

“A lot of the lads involved haven’t yet been in and around it. So if you could expose some lads to minutes in that environment, that would be brilliant”.

Speaking shortly after getting back on the Donegal saddle, McGuinness pinpointed the tighter calendar and managing any potential mid to long-term injuries as the one big difference, potential headache really, from his first time around.

“We would have had many situations in the past where we’d three weeks to a month to the next game. That day is gone.”

Derry’s hard running style means Donegal simply can’t afford to be off the pace in terms of fitness so McGuinness has some real thinking to do right now.

“You look at Derry’s full-backs, they’re as good as any of the Derry forwards in terms of their attacking. Their decision-making and timing is spot on. The ruthlessness of Conor McCloskey, who grabbed a goal at the weekend, was brilliant to see.

“That’s how it’s evolving at the moment so it will be interesting to see who can do what for us, in that sense.

"We have a lot to get right between now and then but we’re actually happy that in the process of looking at a lot of players and a lot of ideas around how we want to play, we have still managed to basically keep on winning, with the exception of the Armagh game."