BY RYAN FERRY
DONEGAL manager Jim McGuinness admits that it’s hard to get a read on the challenge that Dublin will present this week.
Ger Brennan has been installed as the new Dublin manager, replacing Dessie Farrell at the helm.
Former Louth boss Brennan experimented heavily in the O’Byrne Cup with none of his household names involved.
They still managed to defeat Laois before Kildare defeated them by nine points.
That’s not necessarily a gauge of the challenge Donegal will face in Croke Park.
McGuinness said: “I think with the players that played in the O’Byrne Cup you might have three or four of them that make the Dublin squad (on Saturday).
“I think we’ll have to just focus on ourselves this week and hope for the best and sure listen that is all part of it.
“We’ve our own objectives – what we want to do, what we want to achieve. We’ll use the national league to do that.”
It’s a tough start for Donegal with the last three All-Ireland champions (Dublin, Kerry, and Armagh) coming up in the first four matches as well as a clash with Mayo.
They will all be big matches but Saturday’s one in particular will have a large focus.
It is the only game in Division 1 on Saturday and it will be shown live on TV as Brennan takes the Dublin hotseat and follows Farrell, Jim Gavin and Pat Gilroy who all won the Sam Maguire.
McGuinness said: “The Dublin game’s a big one in the context of a new manager going in and a home game and all that.
“I’d imagine there’ll be a lot of excitement for a new tenure coming in and you know all the energy that’ll bring so yeah from our point of view it’s great to get back to Croke Park.
“It’s always lovely to play in Croke Park get a good surface and hopefully get a good run out.”
Ciaran Thompson is continuing his rehab from an ACL tear picked up in the All-Ireland Final.
He’s hoping to be back in time to play in May but McGuinness says he won’t be rushed.
“What I’d say on that is he’s doing really well and he’s developing really well and working up through the gears.
“But when they come back now, they’re almost ready to play because they don’t come back into that situation until their numbers are in the right place. That’s one of the big sort of adjustments even from my last tenure to this one – the sports science now has moved onto another level.
“They’re ready to come back in based on the numbers if they’re able to do exactly what the lads are doing on a Tuesday or Thursday or a Sunday so he won’t be rushed and either will any of the lads who weren’t there (on Saturday) but when they do come back we’ll know that they’re ready.
“That’s very, very important because you don’t want a fella doing all that work and comes back in early and getting some sort of relapse that’s the one thing we want to avoid so yeah that’s the situation he’s in and probably four or five other lads as well but yeah Ciaran’s doing good.”
Jason McGee was due to start the McKenna Cup Final but was taken out just before throw-in.
There were fears that he had aggravated something but that wasn’t the case. The Falcarragh man came on and made a good impact and is in line to start against Dublin.
“Obviously we’ve watched him very closely like he has that history with injuries and two major hip surgeries so we have to be very, very careful with that.
“To be honest he had a bit of a flu last Wednesday night. He was in bed so the fact that we had him (on Saturday) at all was great and a plus and hopefully now he’ll get a good weeks training before the (Dublin) game.
“It’s great to have him and it’s great for him mentally to be going into games without thinking about pain or where he’s at and just thinking about football and he’s starting to get out there a little bit more and enjoy the football and that’s huge for himself on a personal level.”
