McGuinness to ponder his managerial future

The Donegal County Board are 'hopeful' that Jim McGuinness and his management team will remain in charge of the county's footballers as McGuinness takes time out to consider his immediate future.

The curtain came down on Donegal's season with Sunday's 4-17 to 1-10 trouncing by Mayo in a surprisingly one-sided All-Ireland SFC quarter-final, ending a summer campaign which saw McGuinness' charges lose their grip on their Ulster and All-Ireland crowns.

The Glenties man has completed three years of a four-year term and has enjoyed plenty of success in the senior hot seat, guiding his native county to two Ulster Championships and a much-celebrated All-Ireland title.

County Chairman Sean Dunnion said that they are 'naturally keen' to keep McGuinness, his assistant Rory Gallagher and the rest of the backroom staff in place.

"At the minute, though, we'd like to give them space for a few weeks. Jim said in the immediate aftermath of Sunday's game against Mayo that he, the backroom team and the panel will hold their own appraisal of the season. We will give them time to do that and will then sit down with him whenever he is ready," he told the Irish Examiner.

McGuinness has a particularly busy family and work life at present. As well as managing Donegal, he has been employed as a performance consultant with Scottish soccer club Celtic in Glasgow since last November and commutes back and forth on a weekly basis.

His wife Yvonne is expecting twins currently, adding to a household that already includes three young children. Given those circumstances, McGuinness will have to decide whether he has the necessary time and commitment to give to the Donegal job next season.

Speaking after the stinging defeat at Croke Park - only Donegal's third loss in 18 Championship matches under McGuinness - he said: "I won't be drawn into a 'will he, won't he' situation. I know there's a lot going on and a lot to get a handle on.

"Our system is the very same every year. It was the same after the Under-21s in 2010 and has been with the seniors. We'll look at the season, we'll go back and identify all the things that we've talked about here today - injuries, hunger for the game, ourselves.

"We've to look at ourselves and what could we have done better in terms of the whole season and this game. Once all that process is done, we'll know a lot more about the situation.

"Everything will be based on that appraisal. That's the way we've always done it. It won't change because we got hammered today. It'll just be a harder appraisal. I think the process I have just explained will be the process. That's all I can say.

"To me it only makes sense at the end of a cycle. You only have to look at where you went right, where you went wrong and what you would have changed."

Two of Donegal's 2012 All-Ireland winners, Colm McFadden and Frank McGlynn, have already intimated that they will continue playing for the county into 2014 with the latter forced to deny rumours that he is quitting the inter-county scene.

Experienced midfielder Rory Kavanagh, meanwhile, is to discuss his inter-county future with his family and friends in the coming months before deciding on whether he will soldier on with the Tir Chonaill men.