Donegal manager selects new backroom

A new backroom with familiar faces was the method of hiring used by Donegal manager Jim McGuinness.

Former team-mates Damien Diver, Paul McGonigle and John Duffy were yesterday named as the successors to selector Rory Gallagher, video analyst Maxi Curran and kit man Francie Friel, who were surprisingly dropped from the ticket last Tuesday.

Upon McGuinness’s appointment in 2010, Diver initially provided assistance in monitoring the strength and conditioning of players based in the south-west of the county. At the time it was mooted that the Ardara native might have formed part of the backroom team, but the move never came to pass.

Diver played championship football from 1996 to 2006 but was part of the luckless generation and lost provincial finals in 1998, ’02, ’04 and ’06. He runs the family supermarket in his home town.

McGonigle is the current club chairman of Buncrana and has held a number of roles with the Inishowen club. He played championship football between 2001 and 2004, with the ’03 All-Ireland semi-final appearance against Armagh the highlight. He has an accounting and financial services business.

Duffy, like McGuinness, made his championship debut when Brian McEniff’s side were reigning All-Ireland champions, in 1993, whilst playing with Civil Service. A native of Ballyshannon and the Aodh Ruadh club, Duffy was part of the panels that were defeated in Ulster finals against Derry in ’93 and, following a two-year sabbatical in Australia, in ’98.

“Why not?” Diver said when asked why he took the decision to join the set-up.

“They are a team that won an All-Ireland and there is no reason why we can’t scale the heights again. There’s a good team in there and that hasn’t changed.

“It’s very exciting and I’m really looking forward to it. Things have changed a lot since I was a player and it’ll be a learning curve at the same time. Some of the older players I would have finished off my career with — the likes of Rory Kavanagh and Eamon McGee. The younger lads I wouldn’t really know but we’ll have a good crack at it.”

McGuinness said on Tuesday that he was in the process of completing a new-look backroom team, which will maintain the services of goalkeeping coach Pat Shovelin.

“New voices are good,” McGuinness said. “Everybody is trying to push on and raise the bar, myself as well and you are asking the same of the players. It will bring a freshness — definitely. We know have to complete the process and then start the process of preparing the team after that.”

Meanwhile, despite not being part of the senior set-up, Curran confirmed he will continue in his role of Donegal’s U21 manager, assisted by Friel, next season.

“People think I have turned my back on Donegal because of what has happened but I can honestly state that nothing could be further from the truth,” Curran said.

“I am already laying my preliminary plans for 2014 and I would like to think that I can play a part in helping to fashion Donegal senior teams of the future.”