DONEGAL BOSS JIM McGuinness has criticized the debate that has ensued over where the county’s post All-Ireland final homecoming should take place and has labelled it as ‘in bad taste’.
The county traditionally stage their homecomings in Donegal Town but the Letterkenny Chamber of Commerce have sought to switch the event their town after the September 23rd decider.
The issue has been an unwelcome one for McGuinness to contend with ahead of the battle for Sam Maguire and he believes it has provided motivation for their opponents Mayo.
“I think what’s going on is very disrespectful to our own players, first and foremost, and then obviously to the Mayo players. It’s something that shouldn’t have happened. It’s in bad taste. We have a job to do and my job is to try and get the boys ready and the boys’ job is to try and go out and perform.
Nothing should get in the way of that. To be putting a story like that out there and to be discussing it takes away from our job. Obviously if James Horan is talking about it in his dressing room, could you blame him? You just hope that the lads can go out and deliver that game plan on Sunday two weeks. For anything to get in the way of that annoys me on a level
However McGuiness remains convinced that it will not sway the focus of his players.
“We’re in a process at the moment of trying to get our head around Mayo. We had a week last week to focus on ourselves. This week will probably be about ourselves and towards the end of the week about Mayo and then the thing will go back to ourselves closer to the game. It doesn’t matter how many buntings are up here, and flags and everything else, our job is very simple.
“It’s very simplistic. It’s the same job we’ve done for the last two years for every single game. I’d be very, very confident that it won’t impact on our thinking. It’s going to be about taking the information, using the information and then executing it on the given day. There’s always something you have to deal with and it won’t affect us, nor will the hype affect us.”
