1.
Donegal to place faith in youngsters 1: Donegal have lost some established firepower in the likes of Niall O’Donnell and Aaron Doherty dropping off the panel and Patrick McBrearty being forced into retirement because of a troublesome knee complaint. However, the emergence of some exciting new attacking talent like Kevin Muldoon, Turlough Carr, Seanan Carr, Conor McCahill and Shea Malone in the McKenna Cup hopefully means Donegal have replenished that considerable hole. With Ciaran Thompson currently out injured with an ACL tear, and with McBrearty gone, the side will also need to identify a new left-footed free-taker for the league. With Michael Murphy and Oisin Gallen likely to remain absent in the opening rounds, Jim McGuinness will simply have to put his faith in some of the above youngsters. All of the aforementioned players will certainly be excited about the prospect of getting minutes at Croke Park on Saturday evening.
2.
2: Net cast wide again with 30 players used Jim McGuinness has again used the campaign like he did in 2023 to get a proper look at the full squad, while also keeping it strong and competitive. Shane O’Donnell came back in for the Monaghan game for his appearance of the year and was the 30th player to be used over the seven-day campaign. As previously mentioned, the new younger players coming in were given a decent bit of game time to see what they could do, but there were positives in minutes for the likes of Jason McGee and Caolan McGonagle, battle-hardened players who had stop-start campaigns in 2025.
3.
3: McGuinness content to stick with what he knows on sideline So much of the close-season talk centred in on Luke Barrett’s departure and who would come in to replace the Milford man. Having departed to “study for a Masters”, plenty of eyebrows were raised when he suddenly reappeared, weeks later, as part of Ciaran Meenagh’s Derry backroom team. Pressed on the desire to fill that gap after the Antrim win, McGuinness says that he’s quite happy to continue to lean on Neil McGee and Colm McFadden. If someone can add value to that, he’ll consider bringing them in but, if that doesn’t happen, he’s more than happy for the Donegal ‘think-tank’ to remain a trio.
4.
McGuinness sees Gallagher as ready option 4: Jim McGuinness has gone with Kieran Gallagher around the middle third in all three McKenna Cup games. And that seems to be a deliberate effort to accelerate the Glenties man’s development to be ready to go straight away at this level. He’s 28, was a huge underage prospect, but travelling abroad means he’s only getting his senior intercounty chance now. With Ciaran Thompson out injured and with Jason McGee looking to emerge from a nightmare spell of injuries, the manager doesn’t want to get caught for options around the middle third. Hugh McFadden and Michael Langan are also present while Caolan McGonagle can step out of centre half-back if required. He has all the attributes required but getting up to speed will take a little while longer. So it will be interesting to see if Gallagher is again in from the off against the Dubs at Croke Park.