Former Tyrone star and GAA pundit Sean Cavanagh has claimed ‘behind the scenes turmoil’ in Donegal football has reached “shambolic” levels and left the county trailing in the wake of the top All-Ireland contenders.
He made his comments on RTÉ’s League Sunday programme last night.
It comes after Donegal were well-beaten by Mayo in Allianz Football League yesterday leaving them needing amiracle to stay in Division One.
The poor run of league results come in the wake of former county star Karl Lacey’s acrimonious departure as head of the county’s underage academy.
Former Tyrone star Cavanagh said “Karl Lacey departing was the opening of the Pandora’s box.
“It’s baffling for me, as a Tyrone man, much as a I love seeing Donegal suffer, the level of expertise and high performance they have in Karl Lacey, Jim McGuinness, Michael Murphy… they’re generational-type winners and to let people like that disappear from a county fold all within a year, is shambolic really.
“You look at this disconnect that sometimes can be there in the GAA. You have to remember, the way the GAA is set up, there can be amateurs sitting on committees who are so far removed from the high-performance culture that exists within the mindset of those type of players.”
“The brain-drain in Donegal is a familiar story at clubs and counties around the GAA. Often times, the best and brightest slip through the cracks – on and off the pitch.
“You just have a massive disconnect because Karl Lacey doesn’t understand why the county isn’t supporting him to try and push on the youth of Donegal to get them back to winning All-Irelands,” Cavanagh added. “That’s just wrong, the way in which there’s that disconnect there.
“It happens in other clubs, it happens in other counties but it’s playing out in an absolute shambles right now in in Donegal and the team is reflecting that on the pitch.
“The GAA as an organisation does this. There’s men sitting on committees right across the country that aren’t qualified to make decisions that will impact upon performance, that will impact on financials…
“Sometimes the people there just aren’t of the same mindset and qualifications to run things in an efficient manner to get the best for Donegal football and it looks like a real mess is just playing out in public.”
