Has former Donegal boss Jim McGuinness offered an olive branch to Rory Gallagher in his latest column of The Irish Times?
McGuinness pens a weekly column with The Irish Times, and it makes for compelling reading.
He has been criticized in the past few weeks over the treatment of his former assistant manager in the column.
GAA pundit Joe Brolly described his assessment of Donegal’s Ulster SFC Final defeat as a ‘polite assassination’ of Gallagher.
McGuinness was scathing in his criticism of the tactical approach of Donegal in that Ulster final, and said they had no Plan B, he never named Gallagher once in the article, but made several references to the ‘management’.
However, in his latest offering the Celtic Sports Psychologist was full of praise for Donegal, and Gallagher.
He said he had to lift them from their Ulster Final defeat, and said he has introduced a raft of young players that have injected the Donegal team with serious pace.
McGuinness wrote, “I was hugely impressed with how Donegal responded to that defeat in their win over Cork because losing an Ulster final can be absolutely soul-destroying.
“And Rory Gallagher had the task of putting them in the right frame of mind for that game.
“For all the talk of Donegal ageing, the team continues to get younger, which is interesting in itself.
“Since he has become manager, Gallagher has introduced new players who have subtly but significantly altered the profile of the team.
“Eoin McHugh and Marty O’Reilly can inject serious pace while Odhrán MacNiallais and Ryan McHugh have become very important players.”
Is McGuinness ready to bury the hatchet with his old comrade?
Or would it have been too glaringly obvious if he praised the Donegal side without mentioning the role Gallagher had in it.
What do you think?
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