JIM MCGUINNESS WOULD have had every right to look smug after all the negativity he’s encountered in recent weeks, but the Donegal manager insisted he didn’t care ‘one hoot’ if their win yesterday would silence the critics who predicted his team were in decline.
Having just won his 12th Ulster championship game out of 13 in front of 15,883 supporters in Celtic Park, the Donegal manager has nothing to prove to anyone and claimed he felt no pressure coming into yesterday’s Ulster SFC quarter-final against Derry.
“I didn’t feel under any pressure, others were trying to put pressure on and were being negative but our camp was positive,” he said.
“It’s the same routine for us every single year because the Ulster championship is absolutely massive. Without being disrespectful, maybe in other provinces you can look beyond games and try to peak for certain times but in Ulster you have to be ready from the first day you go out.
“It means absolutely everything to this group of players and management to do well in the Ulster championship and we are delighted to get over the line.”
Donegal captain Michael Murphy said they would absorb the lessons from 12 months ago, when they beat Tyrone in the opening round in Ulster only for their performances to nosedive spectacularly after that. A big win in Ballybofey was followed by an unconvincing victory against Down before crushing defeats to Monaghan and Mayo.
Even though Antrim or Fermanagh won’t be expected to cause them any problems in the Ulster semi-final on June 22, Murphy warned they will not be taking anyone lightly.
“One swallow doesn’t make a summer, and we learned that after beating Tyrone last year,” he said.
“We have fierce belief in what we can do and what we can try to achieve as a team with each game we play. That never really changed. Maybe people watching us thought it had changed but we keep going every chance we get.”
Brian McIver could not explain Derry’s slow start to the second half, when they conceded an unanswered 1-3 in seven minutes after the restart – and would not criticise referee Joe McQuillan who allowed a lot of tackles go during the game.
“The one thing we didn’t want to be doing was to be giving Donegal a lead like that,” said McIver.
“I don’t know why we came out so slow in the second half, but we did and that floored us. It was a real tight game and both sides had to work very hard to get their scores but whenever Donegal created the chances, they took the one that was crucial.”
There is annoyance within the Derry camp that McQuillan failed to take action when Fergal Doherty appeared to be heavily tackled in the 14th minute and had to go off injured.
There was also confusion over the black card James Kielt received in injury-time, a few minutes after getting a yellow, and McIver quipped: “the least said on that (refereeing) performance, the better.”
