Cassidy hits out at ‘silly’ Abramovich comparison
The former Donegal player, axed from the panel by McGuinness after contributing to a book in 2011, said the manager has provided the reigning All-Ireland champions with plenty of motivation ahead of Sunday’s semi-final.
“To be honest, I think it was a silly comment. He has given out to Mark McHugh and Eamon McGee in the past for making silly comments. I don’t know if it is pressure or if Jim is trying to direct stuff away or whatever but Dublin didn’t need any more ammunition.
“I know some things can be taken out of context, and maybe that’s what happened, but there is no need for it. Dublin deserve credit — they don’t deserve it to be said because of money.”
McGuinness made the comments at Donegal’s pre-match press event just before they went on a five-day training camp to Johnstown House in Co Meath.
“They have been in Portugal and Johnstown house this year. To be honest, there is a lot of money in our county as well. For Jim to say that wasn’t right but I’m sure he realises that now.”
Cassidy fully expects Dublin to win, hailing them as “scary” to watch this year, particularly in the quarter-final win over Monaghan.
“I think Donegal have a chance but I’m not going to sit here and say Donegal have better players than Dublin because they don’t.
“But every team is due an off day.
“We were relying on maybe one or two of Dublin’s players having an off day and Donegal really firing and Colm (McFadden) and Michael (Murphy) really hitting form and the young guys as well like Darach (O’Connor) and Odhran (MacNiallais) because we need everybody as well.”
He can’t see captain Murphy playing alongside McFadden in the full-forward line from the outset. “I think there is a stat that Dublin, on average, have scored 28 points a game. If we even take 10 points off them as Donegal have a scoring average of 14 points so we have to go up on our end and dramatically decrease theirs.
“The boys have known that these last two weeks. We will be very defensive on our point of view, I don’t think that is a surprise to anyone.”
McFadden’s form has been poor this summer but Cassidy insists he must start at the weekend. “I was at the quarter-final and I never heard any stuff directed at him, but he is a confidence player and without Colm McFadden, Donegal simply won’t win. I know that from down through the years so if Colm has an off-day on Sunday there is no way we will win.
“We should be doing everything we can to keep his confidence up and give him every chance to turn the corner.
“But that’s for Jim and the lads to get him primed and hopefully he will turn up on Sunday in form. He will definitely start. It’s not an option to drop him — it’s not going down the road of loyalty or anything, but you won’t get the same coming off the bench from Colm as you would off Paddy McBrearty, Odhran MacNiallais or Darach O’Connor. So I think you need Colm starting.”
Cassidy also described Donegal’s infamous 0-8 to 0-6 All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Dublin as a missed opportunity.
“It’s definitely an All-Ireland that we let slip. Had we got past Dublin, we would have beaten Kerry because they wouldn’t have been able to handle the way we set up that year.”
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