McEniff to stay on as Donegal manager

BRIAN McENIFF is to continue as Donegal manager despite intimating otherwise to his panel and mentors after Saturday’s fourth-round qualifier defeat to Fermanagh in Clones.

At last night’s county board meeting, McEniff was persuaded to stay on despite suggesting to the contrary in the aftermath of their shock exit. There is one year left on his current contract.

It is not the first time McEniff has done an about-face with regard to the job he has held on six separate occasions. After last year’s All-Ireland semi-final defeat he immediately stepped aside but as county board chairman he said he would personally seek a successor from within the county. This proved unsuccessful, despite the fact that Fermanagh had yet to give their top job to Donegal native Charlie Mulgrew.

Donegal’s premature departure from the All-Ireland series came as a surprise, especially after they beat Tyrone in the Ulster semi-final.

“I said after the Tyrone match that we had just played a team that were not going well, neither mentally or physically. Too much was read into the victory by the public and the players,” said McEniff.

“Then we were well below par against Armagh. The nature of the defeat and the fallout from that game obviously left their scares, but we kicked 19 wides against Fermanagh. That was horrific shooting. It’s hard to say why it happened as we do have three of the best strikers in the game.”

Star forward Brendan Devenney could receive a ban of up to 12 months for manhandling Cavan referee Joe McQuillan after been shown a second yellow card in Clones.

“Brendan attracts a lot of attention, a lot of pulling and dragging from players,” McEniff added in his player’s defence.

“He became frustrated; like all corner forwards he doesn’t know how to tackle. He was suffering for the sins of other Donegal players who possibly should’ve been shown cards before that.

“I’m not prepared to pre-judge the GAC, but he shouldn’t suffer for the sins of every player.”