Cassidy wrong to break Donegal code of silence

Ewan MacKenna on the controversial axing of Donegal footballer Kevin Cassidy

IT’S far too easy to take the populist stance this week as Donegal football threatens to undo a year of work — as good as it was ugly — in the space of a book launch. That can be hard for a journalist to say, just as it can be hard for a fan to admit. But remove yourself from the equation and you’ll see that it’s as simple as this — Kevin Cassidy was wrong. It’s not a nice sentence to have to write in an era where Gaelic footballers are told to be as bland as rice cakes and where a player who speaks the truth is as rare as a Danny Dyer moment of reflection. However, there’s a very good reason for dressing room doors being bolted tight and if Donegal’s tactics can be defended because winning at all costs comes first, then Jimmy McGuinness’s decision to drop his All Star wing-back can be as well.

I remember interviewing Cassidy late on in July of 2006, days before his county bumped Fermanagh out of the qualifiers. But he was nowhere near Brewster Park that day.