No rash calls on my future, says Jim

Jim McGuinness would not be drawn on his future as Donegal manager following yesterday’s seismic defeat.

The Glenties man was afforded time off by his employers Celtic FC to concentrate on Donegal’s Championship this summer.

While he still has another season under his four-year agreement, McGuinness said his management will review the 2013 campaign over the next two to three weeks.

“Everything will be based on that appraisal. That’s the way we’ve always done it. It won’t change because we got hammered today. It’ll just be a harder appraisal.

“That’s all I can say. I won’t be drawn into a ‘will he, won’t he’ situation. I know there’s a lot going on and a lot to get a handle on. We’ve then to decide what’s the best way forward in terms of the outcome of the analysis. That’s the same every single season.”

McGuinness was fulsome in his praise for Mayo and admitted even without injuries Donegal would have come out on the losing end yesterday.

“Even if we were fully ourselves I think the result probably would have been with Mayo because of what they brought to the table, that intensity and that drive. They believe in their manager, they believe in their game-plan and all those things push you forward. That’s exactly what we had last year.”

However, he admitted injuries had played havoc with his preparations all year.

Describing Donegal’s performance as the flattest under his reign, he said: “We haven’t been ourselves all year. I don’t want to make excuses because it’s Mayo’s day and they’re fully deserving of their victory but we haven’t got traction all year.

“We had an awful lot of niggles and key players out and we haven’t been able to build momentum. But I don’t want to use that as an excuse. You have to acknowledge the opposition and say they were on the money today and they fully deserve their victory.”

McGuinness pointed to Donal Vaughan’s goal, Mayo’s second, as the killer. “We were figuring if we got in level or a couple of points up or down we’d be in a good position for the second half. The second goal then obviously took the wind out of our sails. But the short version is we met a very hungry team that were coming into this with a mission of trying to win the All-Ireland.”