McGuinness’s blast

DONEGAL manager Jim McGuinness expressed his disappointment at what he believed was Kildare’s attempt to put pressure on the referee via the media.

On Saturday, Kildare selector Neil Carew highlighted the amount of “professional fouls” committed by Donegal forwards in their opponents’ half of the field.

McGuinness saw the article as an attempt to sway referee David Coldrick into believing Donegal are a cynical team.

“We got phone-calls from some of the national papers to say that Kildare had rang them in relation to the referee and Donegal’s cynical fouling,” McGuinness told RTÉ.

“That article appeared in a lot of papers and it’s very disappointing. I mentioned before the National League that referees are under phenomenal pressure.

“Kieran McGeeney was a phenomenal player. He didn’t cry, he didn’t whinge and we weren’t very impressed by that as a group to read that and to see that.

“We’re happy that the referee didn’t take the bait. The article was based on cynical fouling. Anybody who watched the match in relation to Kildare players in the last period of extra-time would say there was a lot of cynical fouling.

“My point of view is that the referee has a tough job. We all know he has a tough job to do. But the place to do your business is on the coaching field. Try and beat the opposition there, not in the media.”

Kieran McGeeney responded on RTÉ: “Jim knows where I am if he wants to chat to me.” He added: “I could talk about different things, what a Donegal player said to me after the game.

“That’s childish and Jimmy should know better.”