Donegal need to get their house in order, fast - Damien Diver

Damien Diver says Donegal need to get matters back on track in the boardroom with the Academy row continuing to cast a dark shadow over GAA within the county. 

With Paddy Carr’s senior footballers also currently struggling to knit together results, the former county star admits that the mood is low amongst supporters right now. 

But the Ardara clubman believes the situation regarding Karl Lacey’s acrimonious departure as Development Head in Convoy is still salvageable. However, he says if that fallout is allowed to fester much longer, the damage will soon become irreparable. 

And, he adds, the decision-makers within the county could do worse than look towards Sunday’s NFL opposition Galway and how they’ve ironed out their own creases of conflict in recent times. 

“There needs to be communication and dialogue here,” said Diver. “If you don’t have people pulling in the one direction off the field, then you’re going to have friction. Look at Galway and the way they’ve now got their own house in order. 

“They’d their own issues. But there is a brilliant article online about how they got to the bottom of their own conflicts. They had a real mess on their hands at one stage.  But they’ve all rowed in behind each other now, at all levels. 

“So the solution for Donegal is the obvious one, they need to sit down and thrash this out. It can’t be let rumble on much further”.  

Meanwhile, Diver says supporters have the chance to get behind a Donegal side that is a little low on confidence on Sunday when The Tribesmen come to Letterkenny. 

“Listen, confidence is probably at a low ebb right now,” he said. “But there were things in the Monaghan game that Donegal did well. They were looking to move the ball though the foot and even take risks with their score and shot selection. 

“Jamie Brennan’s chance to goal, that was a big moment. I think the sides were level at that stage. It was a huge opportunity to ask a real question. Monaghan were at a low ebb themselves coming into the game and a three-point lead then might have seen them fold or chuck in the towel. 

“Galway in Letterkenny, Donegal really are going to have to take a deep breath and just go for it.  There are plenty of good footballers there. But they just need something to go their way right now. 

“We always viewed this season as one of maybe transition or where we were going to have to be patient. Patrick McBrearty looks like he’s going to be out for a while now. And that’s a blow. I do like the look of Oisin Gallen and I just hope he gets a clean run at it now. He’ll improve with more minutes under his belt. I like the cut of him as a forward and a focal point”. 

He added: “Monaghan had options off the bench and that provided them, on their own patch, with a real lift. We had others like Eoin ‘Ban’ Gallagher and Michael Langan also back in tow last Sunday. They will only get better as the weeks go on. 

“But there are others like Ryan McHugh and Ciaran Thompson that will come in and make a difference. Things will settle down when all those lads are back and up to speed. It’s really difficult to try to string results together in Division 1 when you have new lads coming in and looking to fit into a set-up. You don’t get that cohesion right away.

“But these lads are busting a gut as we speak. Supporters can have an impact on lifting them in O’Donnell Park. they need a wee bit of backing right now”.