BY RYAN FERRY
DONEGAL do not have the luxury of league matches at MacCumhaill Park this season and Jim McGuinness says they have to ‘suck it up’ and get on with things.
The Ballybofey venue has been a real fortress for Donegal over the last 16 years in the league and the championship.
Only Monaghan (2022) and Mayo (2023) have managed to beat Donegal in the NFL during that time in MacCumhaill Park and McGuinness was not manager for either of those matches.
The MacCumhaill Park pitch is currently being redeveloped so Donegal will play two games at home in Fr Tierney Park and one in O’Donnell Park.
They do have a great record in Ballyshannon but it doesn’t provide the same home comforts as MacCumhaill Park. However, the bainisteoir doesn’t think that should impact on the league campaign.
“No listen it’s a bit like coming away from home (on Saturday).
“You’re in Dublin – you’ve got to suck it up and try and win the game.
“Kerry are coming next week and you’ve got to suck it up and try and win the game.
“We had four games at home last year. We’ve three this year and it doesn’t matter.
“Nothing is going to change in our own heads.
“We know what we want to get out of the National League. We want to get depth we want to get young player blooded if we can and we want to create as many opportunities for as many people and that’s the number one priority.
“If we lose a couple of games we’re not going to fret it.
“The great thing (about the Dublin win) is that another four points might be enough.
He added: “That potentially allows more flexibility. We have six more games and that’s the way we are looking at it.”
McGuinness handed out league debuts to Shea Malone, Kieran Gallagher, Turlough Carr and Conor McCahill and was asked when he knows if a player is ready to make the step up.
“Your gut tells you in many respects.
“You see them in training every night.
“Every single thing they do in training, they are judged on, and so are all the other players.
“But particularly the younger players, you’re asking can he do that? Can he control the ball under pressure when a big squeeze comes on?
“Can he find a metre of space when a team like Dublin step very, very aggressively like they did in the second half?
“There are bits and pieces like that and you’re looking for them to tick boxes so you can say yes he can and he’s done it again, and we should give him a chance and see how it goes.
“There are going to be ups and downs with it. There’s no doubt about that and you expect that for young lads anyway. That’s all part of it.”
Sunday’s game is a repeat of the All-Ireland Final defeat to Kerry but McGuinness doesn’t anticipate any hangover from that clash.
“We’ve already parked it. That game is long gone and we’re heading for 2026 now and focusing on that so no there’s no issues there.
“There’s no residue there. We’re back on the horse as they say and we’ve won our first game and we’ll see what happens next weekend.”
