Jul 11
31
McGuinness reflects on Donegal GAA victory
Donegal Senior team manager Jim McGuinness
Donegal GAA manager always had faith in his side, up to the final whistle in last evening’s classic All Ireland quarter final against Kildare and he said that he never thought that they were beaten, a feeling he has had since the beginning of the year.
“Since the first game when we were eight points down when there was 20 minutes to go in the first League game against Sligo, I thought ‘this is what it is like to get beaten as an inter-county manager’.
“But they found something in that game and they dug very, very deep and they got over the line and they got the draw out of the game.
“The following week we went to Omagh and we beat Tyrone. Every single game since that when they have been in a very difficult situation they haven’t taken the easy option and opted out.
“They have always dug their heels in, they have always worked very, very hard and kept on believing.
“Because of all those things when it was in the melting pot and they were three up in the second period of extra-time I still didn’t think – I always had that bit of belief that they would try at least to find something.
“Whether they would fall short or not I always believed they would keep going until the end.”
Donegal now have a month to prepare for their semi-final meeting with the winners of the Tyrone-Dublin quarter-final on August 28thl.
“We haven’t been able to reflect on the Ulster final either and the Ulster final was a huge thing for this group of players,” added McGuinness.
“Psychologically it was an absolutely huge achievement for them and they will cherish that medal. We haven’t been able to process that because we put it literally to the side after the Sunday night and we started focusing on this game.
“I know a lot of the papers and a of the media spoke about the fact that they thought we were done and dusted with our season because we had won the Ulster Championship and that we weren’t going to move on.
“But that that wasn’t the way it transpired and that came from the group of players. Obviously we want them to stay focused and do something in the All-Ireland series but the players re-focused themselves very quickly as well so it is nice now to have a month and to process that tonight as well as today’s game.
“And then obviously Monday and the next four weeks gives us a really good opportunity to work and prepare and get the players that are on the periphery up to another level and build from there.”
