There are a few things Donegal manager Jim McGuinness can abide, but anyone suggesting that his Donegal team would take the field without trying to win a game is not among them.
Donegal, already assured of their Division 1 status, fell to a 0-25 to 0-19 defeat in Letterkenny on Sunday after making 11 changes to the team that had beaten Derry two weeks ago.
And with Tyrone battling for survival, the visitors had the greater urgency, but McGuinness dismissed any notion that his side treated the game lightly.
“I never want to be in a spot where I’m standing on the sideline in my own county with the mind of not trying to win a game,” McGuinness said in the wake of Donegal’s six-point defeat to Tyrone in Letterkenny. “I never want to be in that spot.”
So, in case there was any ambiguity, McGuinness was making sure to draw a line under it. Donegal did not set out to lose this game. They did not roll over and let Tyrone waltz through them, and did not treat it like a glorified challenge match or an exercise in load management. If you thought otherwise, McGuinness had some choice words.
“I don’t tend to get involved in that stuff anymore, but I did see a few comments that we were going out there trying not to win. I don’t know how someone can put pen to paper and write that. They must know my thoughts if they can write that. They have to know what I’m thinking, but that’s not what I was ever thinking.”
What he was thinking, it seems, was that Donegal’s objective was broader than the specifics of 70 minutes against Tyrone. With their Division 1 status already safe, McGuinness rang the changes. Michael Murphy, back in from the start for the first time since 2022, led a team featuring a blend of youth, experience, and players looking to edge their way into the summer picture.
“We’re happy with our performance considering we had a lot of changes,” McGuinness said. “There are fellas around the camp trying to put their hand up and get an opportunity, so I suppose the games up to this point gave us the opportunity to do that.
“So, on the whole, we’re very proud of them, they kept working and kept going. Our objective was trying to get as many people as possible to the level before the Derry game, so I thought we produced a lot of big performances.”
For long spells, they were there or thereabouts. With Murphy and Jamie Brennan kicking three points apiece in the first half, Donegal stayed in touch until Tyrone pulled five clear before the break.
McGuinness’s side had their moments in the second half too, with Niall O’Donnell’s sublime diagonal ball setting up a fine two-pointer for Caolan McColgan. There was even the hint of something bigger when Eoin McHugh rattled the Tyrone crossbar in the closing stages. But the visitors had more on the line, and it showed.
“Tyrone asked questions of us, they came here, and they had a lot to play for, but we were very happy with the application,” McGuinness said. “Physically it was a big ask of our boys, but on the football side we did really well.”
In the end, Donegal’s challenge ran out of road, with Niall Morgan’s free-taking and Darren McCurry’s late score making sure of Tyrone’s victory. Still, this wasn’t a game lost on effort. The kickouts, McGuinness noted, were a problem early on, though there was an improvement as the game wore on.
“We struggled to get our kickouts away in the first half, that improved in the second half when we pushed up and that allowed us to ask more questions of Tyrone,” he said. “We competed really well in the air, but overall, there were a lot of fellas there today who will get a lot out of that game and that’s what we want. We want to get as many fellas as possible into the picture.”
There were positives dotted around the field. McGuinness was keen to highlight the contributions of Odhran McFadden-Ferry, Hugh McFadden, and Jamie Brennan, while Eoin McHugh and Ciaran Moore made their presence felt off the bench. Jonny Carlin and Keelan McGroddy earned their senior debuts in the closing stages too.
“We have a plan for every player and where we want to get them to,” McGuinness said. “We are trying to build everybody and today was a good opportunity for Michael (Michael) in a home game to move up his minutes following the Armagh and Derry game.”
But the main event is still to come. With Donegal already safe, next weekend’s clash is another chance to refine, to tweak, to bring more players up to the required level.
“We have to now look at the players who played a lot up to this point and not forget about them either,” McGuinness said. “We need to keep them ticking over but we need to now go back and look at what we have for next weekend.
“We’re not trying to lose games. We went out today to win that match and we’ll be doing the same next week, and we’ll look at every player and see how we can get them in the best spot for Derry, that’s the objective.”
