Jim McGuinness: ‘Management and players had nothing to do with the statement’

Speaking post-match, McGuinness revealed that the first he knew of that update was when he saw it had been released.

“I just want to say one thing,” he said as his press conference came to an end.

“There was a statement put out during the week. We, the management and the players, had nothing to do with the statement.

“We didn’t know the statement was going to be put out. There was an awful lot of noise, an awful lot of articles and an awful lot of stories about that statement, and that we weren’t happy and we were disappointed and annoyed.

“The management and the players knew that once we got beaten against Tyrone, that we were going to be facing into three games in three weeks, and that that was the way it is.

“The statement was released by the county board, on the back, I think of people in Donegal and clubs in Donegal not being happy.

“But as a management team, we were okay with the game. From my own point of view, you should never, ever make an excuse for a game before a game is played.” 

Monaghan led by seven at half-time but were blitzed after the turnaround.

“I have never done that in my life and so I want to make sure that distance is there, because it’s disrespectful to Monaghan,” said McGuinness.

“If we got beaten today and the first half followed through into the second half, people would say, ‘Sure he was saying that during the week.’ 

“We had nothing to do with it. Nor did we know it was going to be put out into the ether until I read it myself on the phone.

“That’s very important from a management point of view and the players' point of view: we were happy to be here today because we got beaten against Tyrone and it was always going to be that way.

“It was always going to be three games in three weekends and suck it up and let’s get on with it.” 

On the comeback, McGuinness was content with his outfit’s character.

“They’re great lads and they’re great football players, and they’ve put a lot into it. You don’t want to just limp out of an All-Ireland quarter-final, particularly when you’re Ulster champions, and it’s very important coming down and representing the province from that point of view.

“We wanted to step up, that’s really the bottom line.” 

Meanwhile, Monaghan manager Gabriel Brannigan was bitterly disappointed at their collapse after the turnaround. They scored just five points, including one late two-pointer.

“It was definitely a game of two halves,” he said. “We were brilliant in the first half. The first-half performance from Monaghan, to me, gives you a glimpse of what this team is capable of. But we need to be able to put two halves like that together if we're going to take out a team like Donegal."

He continued: “There were handling errors, there were poor options taken, we were getting shots blocked down, we kicked more wides. We didn't seem to have the same hunger around the breaking ball. All of those things just went against us. We've spoken all year about the new rules. Momentum is huge in the game now.”