'Something's got to give': Jim McGuinness laments Donegal fatigue as season unravels

McGuinness said he and his Donegal management team will "have to look at absolutely everything again" following their All-Ireland SFC Round 3 defeat to Dublin

Jim McGuinness on the extra-time period of Dublin's victory over Donegal: "It's not a game anymore, it's just chaos." Pic: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Jim McGuinness said it was sheer 'chaos' at stages during Donegal's extra-time defeat to Dublin, acknowledging that from a management perspective 'all control is gone'.

The Donegal boss insisted that his players came prepared for 'battle' but accepted that they didn't do enough to win.

He said there were various reasons for this, from a low return on kick-outs, to how stretched the game was in the first half of extra time due to both teams receiving two black cards, to the impact of last weekend's loss to Cork, to the fact that with the condensed season 'there is no real training going on' behind the scenes.

Donegal at least went down fighting, coming from three points down late in normal time to force extra time with a Michael Murphy two-pointer.

"We got beat last weekend (against Cork), that will always have an impact on a group, and we just said that this one is going to be a battle," said McGuinness. "If it's a battle, it's a battle. If things go well for us, then things go well for us, but expect to be in a battle.

"So there was nobody thinking anything other than that and in extra time, going into the last phases of the game, you're just trying to stay in the game and manage the game.

"But it does become...it's not a game anymore, it's just chaos. You're trying to get fellas in, you're trying to get fellas out, who has got what in the tank? You're trying to manage a multitude of things at that stage. There's so much up in the air.

"All control is gone, if you want a better word, all control is gone."

Four players were black carded following a row at full-time of Donegal and Dublin's All-Ireland SFC Round 3 game. Pic: Daire Brennan/Sportsfile

Like Ulster champions Armagh, Donegal's season imploded across two weekends, with back-to-back defeats. Just weeks ago, Donegal beat Kerry in Killarney, and previously beat the All-Ireland holders in the League final.

"It's consistency," said McGuinness, pinpointing Donegal's problem after losing three of their four Championship games. "Everybody's trying to find the magic formula if you like but it's really, really the consistency of that and trying to marry those two things.

"I've never come in here and not put my hands up when it's not been there, and the performance was not there. You just say the performance was not there and we have to go away now and we have to look at absolutely everything again. That's where we're at."

Asked why he felt energy was a problem for Donegal in big games this year, McGuinness complained about the format and said it's leading to fatigue and an 'epidemic' of injuries.

"You have to be really careful with them because there's a lot of serious injuries happening, like the hamstring injuries that are happening," said McGuinness. 

"I would say there's an epidemic throughout the country in terms of looking for surgeons, it's just off the charts. So you have to just manage that and you have to try to make sure that you're on the safe side of it, because the new rules are just asking so much of the players.

"Maybe from an explosive point of view, we make it 30%-35% more intensity in the games than would have been there before the new rules. The players are the same, they haven't changed, the number of subs hasn't changed, so something's got to give."