McGuinness: Club games harm chances

Without injured pair Karl Lacey and Neil Gallagher, Jim McGuinness is slightly snookered going into Sunday’s game against Down, but he claims his county board have made things more difficult for him.

He’s an opponent of the new club championship structure in Donegal, for one, and finds himself once again at loggerheads with officials about the volume of club games interfering with his preparations, the duo having sustained their knocks in recent fixtures.

“I think we are the only team in Ulster who are playing championship club football [right now].

“We played Tyrone and played championship for the next two weeks. If we beat Down the week after that we play championship.

“We played Tyrone and we had a month of a run-in for a game and for this one we have two weeks because you have to release the players back to the clubs.

“Down played the week after us and they have had a three-week run-in. If we have prepared really well I’m happy to go and play the game. If you feel you have half got the message through the wheels could come off, but if you have got the message through you’re hoping that’s the glue that will keep it together when the game is unfolding so it hasn’t been ideal.

“If we win this weekend, there’s championship next week. There was an All-Ireland Ghaeltacht championship as well, the Gweedore lads didn’t play in the championship the last day because they were in Waterford so if we did get through [v Down] they would play club championship two weeks in a row.

“And that leaves them two weeks to prepare for an Ulster final so that has to have an impact.

“It’s a lot of championship football, whereas you look at Tyrone and it’s straight knock-out.”

McGuinness appreciates the view that Donegal are more sensitive to injuries than other All-Ireland contenders.

“I can understand why it’s being said. We don’t have a big squad but it hasn’t affected our results. We managed the situation last year and we’ve continued to win.

“The likes of Dublin, realistically, you could put 15 aside out in an A v B game and it would be ultra competitive, both teams giving it hell for leather and there’d be very little between them. It’s a different dynamic.”

Even if Down did concede 1-15 the last day against Derry, McGuinness is a mite concerned about the firepower they possess.

“Benny Coulter and Conor Laverty, every one of them [forwards] is asking a different question. One is asking a question about strength and fetching. The other one is asking a question of agility. Mark Poland asks a question because of his ability to see a pass and unlock a defence. It is a very nice mix they have.

“They have a bit of quality going forward and we will need to be on our guard to manage that.”