Donegal manager Jim McGuinness has distanced himself and his team from the statement released by the County Board on Monday evening.
There was disquiet in the Donegal when they were only granted six days to prepare for the Monaghan match but the team themselves were happy to get on with things.
The County Board’s statement read as follows:
“A spokesperson for Donegal GAA County Board states they formally requested a Sunday fixture in lieu of Saturday for the upcoming weekend.
“No other county has played as many matches as Donegal in this year’s championship. To compound the physical and mental demands, those eight games have been played within an 11 week window.
“Match number nine comes this Saturday, less than 12 weeks after playing Derry in the Ulster Championship Preliminary round on April
6th.
“On that basis, We thought it wholly reasonable and fully justified to seek an extra day recovery time for our players this weekend.
“Coiste Chontae Dhún na nGall concludes that it is most regrettable, and very disappointing, that our request has been turned down. We feel the welfare of our players was not adequately considered in the decision making process.”
However, McGuinness was keen to clarify the matter after today’s win over Monaghan.
“There was a statement put out during the week but the management and the players

“We didn’t know the statement was going to be put out.
“There was an awful lot of noise, and awful lot of articles and awful lot of stories about that statement and that we weren’t happy and that we were disappointed or annoyed.
“The management and players knew once we got beat by Tyrone that we were going to be facing into three games in three weeks, and that was the way it was.
“A statement was released and I think on the back of people in Donegal and clubs in Donegal not being happy.
“But as a management team we were ok with the game. From my own personal point of view you should never ever make an excuse for a game before the game is played.
“I have never done that in my life and I want to make sure that distance is there.
“It’s disrespectful to Monaghan. If we had got beat today and that first half performance followed through to the second half and we got beat then people would have said that he was saying that during the week.
“We didn’t know anything about it. I didn’t know myself that it was going to be put out into the ether until I read it myself on the phone so that is very important.”
“From a management and players point of view we were happy to be here today because we were beat against Tyrone and it was always going to be that way.”