RORY GALLAGHER, the Donegal manager, has revealed just how new his panel feels – with some of his players unable to tell some of the newcomers apart!
By Chris McNulty, Donegal Sport Hub
Ahead of their opening Allianz League game on Sunday against Kerry at O’Donnell Park, Gallagher was speaking at a press conference in Ballybofey.
The Donegal boss talked of the transition period he faces after eight players from his 2016 squad pulled the pin, either through retirement or withdrawing from the set-up.
For the established men in Gallagher’s trenches, it has been a strange old winter.
“It’s strange for them,” the Donegal manager said.
“They’re coming to training, and they’re seeing lads that they’ve probably never even seen playing.
“They wouldn’t have seen the minor games because we were preparing for senior games, and if they’re not in the same division at club level, the time that they would have seen them play would be minimal.
“They were getting confused between Jason McGee and Michael Langan, apart from being tall and best friends, they look like each other, and it took the boys a while to figure out who was who!”
Gallagher spoke of the challenge of forming a new group with the likes of Christy Toye, Eamon McGee, Colm McFadden, Rory Kavanagh, David Walsh, Leo McLoone, Odhrán Mac Niallais and Anthony Thompson all having left the scene.
Gallagher said: “We had a night out with the new brigade over Christmas, as old fashioned as it might seem.
“We played Armagh and went for a night out after it. You could see it all settle down then and the friendship and craic developing with them.
“That’s all part of it and that’s the banter in the dressing room. People get caught up with tactics, but team spirit is very, very important.”
On how the remaining veterans have been ‘coping’, Gallagher added: “In fairness, you’d have almost have seen withdrawal symptoms from them early on.
“It was a big shock and they were big friends of theirs. They would sit in the same spot in the dressing room – Frank (McGlynn) and Colm (McFadden) were like two old women!
“That’s the way they operated, and big Neil (Gallagher), and Eamon McGee and Christy Toye – they all had their wee gangs.
“David Walsh would have been very close to Karl Lacey, and they all had their wee chemistries.”
