Age profile is working against Donegal

There were no grand gestures afterwards. No declarations or intimations of veterans angling towards the exit or talk of how a great team had perhaps reached the end of a long and memorable road walked together.

“Listen, we’d hope that everybody would (stay on), but time will tell,” said Donegal boss Rory Gallagher (right).

Privately, he must wonder what the winter will have in store for him. It is not difficult to imagine him traipsing the roads of the county to sip tea with some of his senior players, coaxing and cajoling them about what 2016 may have in store. Ultimately, he admitted, the players themselves will make the calls. So many of them had considerable mileage to their credit even before Jim McGuinness took over.