Jim McGuinness says the Football Review Committee has to revisit the number of substitutes sides can make ahead of Championship.
It might only be Round 2 of the NFL but the Donegal boss says the rigors of the game are already that demanding under the new playing rules that there are going to inevitably be casualties in the coming weeks.
Donegal’s opening fixture, scheduled for Killarney last weekend, fell foul of the weather but Dublin, seven days after their high-octane 1-17 to 1-15 win over Mayo at Croke Park, suffered three hamstring complaints in Ballybofey.
David Byrne, Colm Basquel and James Madden were all called ashore prematurely while Donegal’s Peadar Mogan also looked to be moving awkwardly late on and looked to find refuge in the full-forward line as Donegal’s quota of five replacements was already spent.
“I actually feel for Dublin there tonight,” said the Donegal boss after. “They lost three players to hamstrings. Even ourselves, Peadar Mogan is one of our fittest players but he was really struggling in the last 15 minutes.
“That’s one area that really has to be taken into consideration when they go to look at the rules.
“These lads are putting their lives on hold, the sacrifices are huge and if the demands are just too much you need a release valve.
“The first FRC document that came through, I picked up that there were going to be six subs allowed. And that seemed to make perfect sense as it’s serious going.
“We see in our own training that the metrics are going up – and they are the explosive ones that challenge you most.
“These lads are so finely tuned now that the tears are more aggressive, they’re deeper because the players are much more explosive.
“And you’re now looking at a month or six weeks for the likes of hamstrings when it used to be a week or ten days.
“Taking all that into account, I think there definitely should be the flexibility for another sub. I do feel that’s one thing that could be looked at.
“The way it is, I can’t see any team in the country waiting until the last 15 minutes anyway and not having used all their five subs. You can’t hold them now with the view of using a tactical sub.”
Donegal dominated the opening 35 minutes at the weekend but the five-point margin at the break, 0-11 to 0-6, didn’t reflect that as eight wides left Dublin still in contention.
Facing into the elements, Donegal were pinned back by the visitors for large spells in the second period as Dublin got themselves back to within the minimum on three occasions.
However, the likes of Oisin Gallen and replacement Paddy McBrearty eased late tension as Donegal crossed the line with four to spare, in the end, at 0-20 to 0-16.
“There are so many factors at play,” said McGuinness on his side’s first league outing under the new rules.
“We need to try to prepare as best we can for Championship and look to understand the new rules as best we can in the league. That’s the objective.
“We kicked a lot of wides in the first-half and it felt like we left it behind us at half-time. We should have had a lot more on the board than we did.
“Dublin are Dublin. They are a big team and this is a big fixture. We were a bit rusty and had only a fifty per cent conversion rate in that first period. That’s something we’ll look at during the week.
“We showed real character in the second-half as Dublin brought it back to a point with seven or eight minutes gone in the second-half.
“But at that point we got some vital turnovers and interceptions. Oisin Gallen stepped up and kicked some big scores into the wind”.