Taking Donegal to the next level

FIRST things first. Jimmy McGuinness is chatting idly about his playing days in Donegal when he casually remarks in a thick north-western accent that he’s “a half Kerryman”.

You feel duty bound to pull him up in mid flow and direct him back a bit. “Half Kerry, how do you work that one out?” “Sure I was down with Tralee IT when they won all the Sigersons in the 90s,” he reasons.

He’s got a point, though “honorary Kerry man” may be a better title for the team’s 1999 captain.

McGuinness’ thirst for education took him onto the University of Ulster, Jordanstown, where he captained another Sigerson-winning team in 2001, and then on to Liverpool. Currently, he’s lecturing in sports psychology.

Aside from the day job, the 1992 All-Ireland medallist has been building his profile as a mentor of GAA club and county teams across Ulster and Connacht in recent years.

He reckons he’s worked with nearly 20 different sides since retiring from Donegal in 2003.

Aside from his sports psychology services he also works on players’ strength and conditioning. Ambition clearly courses through the veins of the Glenties man who admits: “Sport has been my life, all my life.”

With some management success on the local club scene, he was naturally inclined to throw his hat into the ring for the Donegal senior job in late 2008.

But after a messy appointment

process – Declan Bonner and Charlie Mulgrew claimed they’d been offered the job at one stage – he was overlooked and John Joe Doherty eventually got the county bainisteoir bib.

Last November, McGuinness got a call asking if he’d fancy taking over the Donegal U21 side.

For a moment, he was tempted to tell them where to shove it.

“I had a chat with Martin McHugh and Martin would have been in a similar situation to myself, in that he went for the Donegal job at one stage and didn’t get it,” said McGuinness.

“We had a good heart-to-heart one day over a cup of coffee and I decided that I would go for it.

“For the players I am happy I did that. It has been a great experience for me and a great experience for them.”

Nobody, bar McGuinness, suspected that six months or so later Donegal would be preparing for this evening’s Cadbury All-Ireland U21 final against Dublin as Ulster champions.

“At the start of the year we had all the players together in a circle, I said we were going to win the Ulster Championship and a couple of them started laughing,” recalled McGuinness.

“We had to tell them they were going to win the Ulster Championship.

“They have gone from that base to building confidence through their performances.

“It’s one thing to tell a fella he’s a good player but it’s another thing to actually go out and prove it week in, week out.

“They have done that and proven themselves and now know that they are able to compete.”

One of the players who didn’t laugh when McGuinness painted a picture of success and garlands was Michael Murphy, their powerful, in-form full-forward who was voted 2009 Young Footballer of the Year.

Much of the weight of expectation on Donegal at Breffni Park will rest on Murphy’s broad shoulders though McGuinness is confident Murphy will deliver.

“You watch Michael in training and he has got great pace and he’s got very soft hands.

“That’s the sign of a really classy player, soft hands. Maurice Fitzgerald had it, Colin Corkery had it. Big men, soft hands.

“Michael has soft hands in dangerous positions and he takes the right option nearly all the time.

“I saw ‘Bomber’ Liston saying last year that he is looking forward to watching Kieran Donaghy play for Kerry over the next 10 years.

“I would be disappointed if this guy wasn’t around to play for Donegal for the next 10 years.”

Leo McLoone is the other senior player on the U21 team.

McGuinness has been told another four or five will be called up to John Joe Doherty’s panel after this evening’s game.

All that’s left for them is to collect Donegal’s first U21 title since 1987 and make the step up to the senior grade as winners.

“I’m delighted for them all and I’ll be watching their careers as they go along after this,” said McGuinness.

“It’s a funny one, you get close to your players, there’s great respect there between the two groups, management and players.

“But then it’s like watching your children moving out of the house.

“You have a heavy heart but hopefully they can all go on to have good careers with Donegal.”