GAA: Donegal manager Jim McGuinness seeking answers after All-Ireland final loss
Last Updated: 22/09/14 11:39am
Donegal manager Jim McGuinness was a loss to explain his side’s “flat” performance against Kerry.
The Ulster champions were favourites to claim a second All-Ireland title in three years but fell to a narrow 2-9 to 0-12 defeat.
Donegal were not themselves and McGuinness doesn’t have answers yet.
“We looked tired,” he said. “We looked a wee bit lethargic and we just didn’t spark into our normal rhythm.
“Why that is, I don’t know. Genuinely I don’t know. It’s a big occasion. Maybe that’s one of the reasons. It’s too early for me to say. I have to look at it and think about what we did in the lead-in to the game. I can’t put my finger on it at the moment.
I personally think if we were fully at ourselves, sharp and aggressive on the counter-attack, the way we practiced before the game, seeing that man inside with a dink ball or a runner of it, I think we could have been very competitive throughout the game.
Jim McGuinness
“Maybe we wanted it to be 9pm and be out in Citywest with the cup, but the game is played at 3.30pm. You got to deliver your performance at 3.30pm.
“It’s very unusual for us. Normally we deliver a high-octane performance. We didn’t get that today.”
McGuinness refused to blame Paul Durcan for his error that led to Kieran Donaghy’s second-half goal, but he was pleased with his side’s reaction on the two occasions that Kerry found the net.
“The first goal was a hammer blow but I thought we reacted to it really well,” he said.
“We still weren’t playing the way we know we can. The second goal was another hammer blow but again I thought we reacted to it well.
“You have to ask the question: why weren’t we able to do that in open play in normal time? Go at the opposition. Why did it have to be in reaction to conceding a goal?
“I personally think if we were fully at ourselves, sharp and aggressive on the counter-attack, the way we practiced before the game, seeing that man inside with a dink ball or a runner off it, I think we could have been very competitive throughout the game.”
Disappointed
He continued: “We are disappointed we didn’t deliver to the level we are capable of. We wanted to have no regrets. Empty it out onto the pitch and then whatever the result was we can live with it.
“Now, we have to live with the fact we didn’t get anyway close to our performance level. We were within a whisker of sneaking a draw at the end and maybe if we got a draw the performance and the intensity could have been there the next day.
“For me, that’s not something I will dwell on. The game was at 3.30pm today. That’s when we had to deliver and that wasn’t the case.”
McGuinness said that preparations had gone really well but felt his team were far too conservative against Kerry.
“We have won an All-Ireland. We know what it takes to win an All-Ireland. It takes a team being very intensive, very focused and very positive and continually driving through the 70 minutes. There were too many minutes in that game that were so conservative.”
Several retirements will probably follow over the winter, while McGuinness may focus purely on his role with Celtic. But he refused to be drawn on his future after Sunday’s defeat.
“I will go away and take my time and think about this,” he said. “I did that last year and I did it the year before.
“I will think of my own position. I will think about the players and the squad that we have. Do we want to move forward? Motivation? All these things come into it.”
