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Breaking News Jim McGuinness has stepped down as Donegal manager after 5 years at the helm. Great Ma
Yet another TFK exclusive. 
He’s off to eat himself.
Jimmys not winning matches
1 Ulster U21 Championship - lost out in All Ireland Final, Murphy hit crossbar with last minute penalty
4 Senior Ulster Final Appearances, winning 3 of them
2 All Ireland Appearances, winning 1 of them, doubling Donegal’s number of All Irelands and trebling their All Ireland appearances
2 Division 2 National League Final Appearances, winning 1 of them
Turned a pub team into genuine contenders, beating anyone worth beating in the game on the way.
He talked the talk, but he sure as shit walked the walk. He had no more worlds to conquer.
Best of luck to him and his family for the future, I’d have fucking loved to have had someone like him in Laois in the mid noughties. He had his downsides, his disregard for the Club game was disappointing, but he was in it for the short haul, 4 years, win what you could and get the fuck out. seems fair enough when you look back at it.
Can’t disagree. Still, as they said about Grahame sourness, if he was made out of chocolate…
[QUOTE=“myboyblue, post: 1026633, member: 180”]1 Ulster U21 Championship - lost out in All Ireland Final, Murphy hit crossbar with last minute penalty
4 Senior Ulster Final Appearances, winning 3 of them
2 All Ireland Appearances, winning 1 of them, doubling Donegal’s number of All Irelands and trebling their All Ireland appearances
2 Division 2 National League Final Appearances, winning 1 of them
Turned a pub team into genuine contenders, beating anyone worth beating in the game on the way.
He talked the talk, but he sure as shit walked the walk. He had no more worlds to conquer.
Best of luck to him and his family for the future, I’d have fucking loved to have had someone like him in Laois in the mid noughties. He had his downsides, his disregard for the Club game was disappointing, but he was in it for the short haul, 4 years, win what you could and get the fuck out. seems fair enough when you look back at it.[/QUOTE]
+1
He’s completely changed the mindset of Donegal as a GAA county, he’s left a good base there for the new manager to continue on. It will be interesting to see who gets the gig. What’s Charlie Mulgrew (not Celtic’s) at these days?
He is the nearest thing Gaelic Football had to Ger Loughnane
[QUOTE=“Il Bomber Destro, post: 1026640, member: 2533”]+1
He’s completely changed the mindset of Donegal as a GAA county, he’s left a good base there for the new manager to continue on. It will be interesting to see who gets the gig. What’s Charlie Mulgrew (not Celtic’s) at these days?[/QUOTE]
I don’t know, Bomber. I think that’ll be the end of Donegal as a serious unit for the foreseeable future. It’s a shit place to live for most of the year weatherwise and they love drinking. Even the logistics of bringing all those lads together to train is nuts. That team has been on the go for a few years and will lose application as well as players. The next manager is on a hiding to nothing.
Forgot to add that I think it was wrong of jo PAlyer to bring up mrs McGuinness senior.
He redefined the meaning of a shite match. From here on it shall be known as an absorbing tactical contest
David Moyes is the man for the job.
He never had the sheer madness of Loughnane.
Amazing achievement to drag Donegal from nowhere to an AI title and almost repeat the trick two years later. Hard to see them being a competitive force next year.
They have a good young base of a team - McBrearty, McNiallais, O’Connor, McElhinney, McLoone, McHugh (x2), Murphy are all 25 or under. I think they’ll knock another few years out of the defence that started against Kerry. They had an All Ireland minor runners up this year as well so might be able to bring in a couple of those boys. I think they’ve a good base for the new manager to start out with, I think McGuinness going is a huge loss for them and I can see why you’d question whether the new manager can instill the same discipline and togetherness that McGuinness did. Who is the favourite for it anyway? Rory Gallagher is supposed to be very well thought of by the players and would probably be the most suitable candidate.
It’s about leadership, though, and a lot of the core group are pushing on in years. Lacey and McFadden were the two most important players the year they won the All-Ireland and they don’t have long long left, in McFadden’s case his time may already be up. Neil Gallagher, Neil McGee, Frank McGlynn, Anthony Thompson etc are also above or near 30. I don’t think they’ll contend for the All-Ireland again without McGuinness.
Lacey didn’t have a great year this year, McFadden was really poor. I think they have others shooting up though. They will probably have Mark McHugh back this year, McBrearty for me has finally arrived on the scene and I think he was outstanding this year, O’Connor will have a year of football under him so certainly in the forward line I’d expect improvements. The middle of the pitch is an issue alright, Gallagher is getting on but at 32/33 he’s after coming off his best season ever, Toye also had a great season and he’s 30 odd as is Rory Kavanagh who I thought was poor enough this year. Michael Murphy is the leader of that team but you had the young guys showing the leadership all through the season, McBrearty stepping up and hitting big scores at critical junctures of games, MacNiallais and Ryan McHugh as well. The defence are getting on but I still think there’s a good 2/3 years left in most of them.
I think the manager has a good base there and for four years under McGuinness the squad was pretty much a closed shop. I’m sure Donegal will add some fresh blood this year.
For once I agree with Totti. If the right man comes in Donegal have serious footballers. Being 30 means fuck all in Gaelic football. It’s so strategic and with games so spread out you can use lads in many ways if you are clever.
They didn’t have a great 2nd half to the final, and were poor against Armagh, but other than that themselves Kerry, Mayo and Dublin stood out away from the pack this year.
The big decision is will the CB revert to type and go down the old road of acting like they used to. Much like Cork when stood up to the CB were weak, but people running GAA can often be petty and hold grudges and wait for opportunities to take back control and are fantastic at in-doing good work done.
The clubs, rightfully, will feel aggrieved and try to regain some power and I can see a poor candidate being thrown forward and given momentum from the clubs.
There will likely be controversy yet.
[quote=“caoimhaoin, post: 1026773”]The clubs, rightfully, will feel aggrieved and try to regain some power and I can see a poor candidate being thrown forward and given momentum from the clubs.
There will likely be controversy yet.[/quote]
Not every county is as cuntish as your own.
[QUOTE=“myboyblue, post: 1026633, member: 180”]1 Ulster U21 Championship - lost out in All Ireland Final, Murphy hit crossbar with last minute penalty
4 Senior Ulster Final Appearances, winning 3 of them
2 All Ireland Appearances, winning 1 of them, doubling Donegal’s number of All Irelands and trebling their All Ireland appearances
2 Division 2 National League Final Appearances, winning 1 of them
Turned a pub team into genuine contenders, beating anyone worth beating in the game on the way.
He talked the talk, but he sure as shit walked the walk. He had no more worlds to conquer.
Best of luck to him and his family for the future, I’d have fucking loved to have had someone like him in Laois in the mid noughties. He had his downsides, his disregard for the Club game was disappointing, but he was in it for the short haul, 4 years, win what you could and get the fuck out. seems fair enough when you look back at it.[/QUOTE]
He’s not Alexander the fucking Great. Nor Eric Bristow.
It was an apt reference, he has beaten all Gaelic football teams worth beating in his 4 years.