Jim McGuinness says he’s happy with Donegal’s 100 percent start to the league season, after his Donegal side defeated Kerry today in Killarney.
Donegal secured their first win in the Kingdom in 37 years with a 0-23 to 1-18 victory, where the Donegal men held a lead from the start.
The visitors led by four points at half-time after an end-to-end first period, holding onto their lead despite late Diarmuid O’Connor goal for Kerry.
Read the full match report from the Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney here.
“Happy enough for sure,” said a content Donegal boss after. “It was obviously going to be an important game for us when you’re away from home.”
“It’s a very very competitive division and I suppose you’re trying to put pressure on yourself to get points on the board early.”
“You don’t want to be in a situation where you’re in bother with Armagh and Galway coming down the track. That’s the reality in Division 1.”
“The lads worked so hard today and the ebb and flow of the new rules kicked in there today. There were periods we were in control and there were periods Kerry had the upper hand.”
“They came very hard there at the end and the goal meant they had the crowd behind them We weathered that storm and got important scores in important moments to see it out.”
McGuinness raised some genuine concerns last time out on the number of substitutes allowed in what he says has been a huge increase in the metrics and energy output by teams, especially around the middle third, under the new playing rules.
And he says it’ll be interesting to see if the FRC take up the option to make in-season tweaks on the evidence of the first three rounds.
“We’re all learning, we’re all moving forward and I know the FRC are meeting next week and I’m sure they’ll take learning from the first few rounds. So let’s see what comes from that.”
“But this win today makes the journey up the road that little bit shorter this evening.”
On the situation with Michael Langan who limped off just minutes into matters in Killarney, McGuinness says it’s a pulled hamstring that will be assessed to gauge the extent of the damage.
“Michael has pulled his hamstring. It’s probably an accumulation of things with the journey down a factor as well. Maybe the game last week too… the challenges are multiple now in comparison with the football these lads played last year.”
“I spoke about this last week and it was jumped on that negatively like it was some kind of spin.”
“When the FRC had their first call with the county managers it lasted three hours and I didn’t speak once. It wasn’t my place.”
“But if I’m asked for an opinion I’ll give it and it should stand as an opinion, not some type of spin. But the FRC have done a huge amount of work and are meeting constantly to refine everything.”
“Whatever they decide to do we’ll coach to that and run with that.”
