COUNTY STAR Kevin Cassidy has said he believes that Donegal will be more creative next season.
The 30-year-old defender has all but confirmed that he will be available again in 2012 when he hopes the Tir Chonaill men can go one step further than this past season.
“Next year will be more of the same but I think we’ll be a bit more creative,” Cassidy told the Irish Sun.
“I’m sure Jim has a plan in place but people tend to overlook the fact that we hadn’t won a game in the Ulster championship for four years. When people are talking about Donegal, they have to consider where we came from.
“We had a lot of hurdles to overcome and we managed to get over most of them, although it would’ve been great had we gone one more step to make the All-Ireland final.”
Donegal came under heavy criticism from some sections of the media over their defensive tactics during 2011 but Cassidy says that silverware on the table is all that matters, and compared Donegal’s situation to that of Dublin’s.
“Dublin had a game plan and they stuck to it. Kerry didn’t really open up but that’s thanks to Dublin’s zonal defensive set-up with the half-forward line of Bryan Cullen, Paul Flynn and Barry Cahill all dropping in to help,” said the Gaoth Dobhair man.
“That’s essential as you cannot give the likes of ‘Gooch’ Cooper any space. People are not willing to kick away possession. Defences are tight and you could see that on Sunday. We got a lot of criticism but it didn’t bother me or the lads one bit.
“I’m sure Dublin won’t care today what anyone says about them because for them it was all about winning an All-Ireland.”
