BY RYAN FERRY
Donegal boss Jim McGuinness hailed the ‘very honest’ Conor McCahill as he was granted his first league start on Sunday.
McCahill is still a Leaving Cert student at Abbey Vocational School in Donegal Town.
However, McGuinness hasn’t been shy when it has come to throwing in teenagers in the past.
McCahill rewarded his manager’s trust by scoring three points while he worked hard off the ball as well.
“He’s very honest. He’s been very good in training. He works so hard. The big thing with him is that it’s such a massive step up.
“But we know what he’s done at underage football. So the advice to him beforehand was to just go in and be himself – be natural and be relaxed.
“And if the chances arise, just look to kick scores. And he did all of that really well. We’re delighted for him”.
McGuinness was understandably in good form after watching his team see off Mayo on Sunday.
It is usually close when the two counties from the Western seaboard collide but Donegal were emphatic winners on Sunday.
It wasn’t the perfect performance and there are aspects to tidy up ahead of a trip to Armagh next week.
“Obviously, you want to get more points on the board and we’re again delighted to do that,” he explained.
“From that point of view, it was a good day’s work. First half in particular, we’d be very happy with a lot of it. We asked a lot of good questions.
“Our build-up was good, our established attack was very good. We were good on our kick-outs. In the second half, we dropped off again. It’s the same conversation really that we had the weekend of the Kerry game.
“Our numbers were down in the second half. Mayo seemed to get their kick-outs away a little easier than we did. We also became a little bit sloppier on the ball.
“So, some of the same things are still there that we need to address. But, the flip side to that was we were up against a side that’s very strong, very powerful and aggressive in the way they want to step to you.
“In the main, we met that challenge really, really well.”
McGuinness felt his team really struck the right tone in the first half and they knew that Mayo were going to ask questions of them.
“I think everybody to be fair to them was on it.
“Their mental intensity was good and they moved the ball quickly.
“They didn’t take any risks but they asked questions so we would be happy with a hell of a lot of it in the first half and they showed a lot of desire as well.
“Mayo are one of the biggest and most physical teams in the country and it’s always a battle.
“It’s a battle on the ground in terms of trying to stay with them and a battle in the air as well so all of that was
