Martin McElhinney has insisted Donegal still have a squad capable of landing All-Ireland titles, and said he doesn’t believe they will lose any more players to retirement.
Eamon McGee and Colm McFadden called time on their careers after the All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Dublin.
Speculation is rife that Christy Toye, Rory Kavanagh and Neil Gallagher will follow suit, but McElhinney isn’t convinced.
Rory Gallagher was given a four-year contract extension under the pretence that Donegal were entering into a transitional period.
However, McElhinney refuted those claims that Donegal are going through a transitional period, and says they’ve still got a squad good enough to win All-Ireland titles.
McElhinney told The 42, “A lot of people saying there’s a transition there at the moment. ”I think there are a couple of retirements but I’m not sure are there many more.
“Everyone else will probably be back. It’s about time that a lot of boys stepped up, a lot of boys around the 26, 27 mark. We’re kind of relying on Rory Kavanagh, big Neil – he’ll probably be back – now there are other boys coming through to take on the mantle.
“Christy’s a funny character, he never says too much about football or talks about retirement. He hasn’t spoken any word of it so as far as we know next year you wouldn’t know, Christy could say nothing and not turn up. We’ll be glad to get him back.
“He’s a serious asset, he’s very god in the dressing room. He’s one of those boys, if he went out tormorrow he’d be the fittest man of the pitch. Fitness isn’t his problem. It’s whether he goes back himself. That’s the one.”
When asked about whether or not he felt Donegal could still realistically challenge for All-Ireland’s – McElhinney’s response was emphatic.
“Definitely. You wouldn’t be going out to play and train hard if you didn’t think you could challenge for All-Irelands.
“No point in turning up if you don’t think like that. We got a couple of setbacks the last couple of years so we’ll be looking to concentrate on blooding a few new players in the league, staying safe and getting over Antrim in the first round. That’s all we’ll be focusing on.”
