Donegal’s McElhinney says no hard feelings over four departures

Donegal midfielder Martin McElhinney has claimed there are "no hard feelings" towards the four players – Mark McHugh, Gary McFadden, Thomas McKinley and Antoin McFadden – who walked away from the senior football squad.

McElhinney has denied rumours of unrest in the squad and claimed the players had walked rather than being pushed.

“Playing inter-county football now there’s a lot of commitments and travelling and the boys who have left are at college and finishing exams.

“We understand and wish them good luck.

“There are no harsh feelings between us or the management or any of the boys, they just decided to leave of their own accord. That’s the way things go and we have put it behind us.”

It has been a bad few weeks for Donegal coach Jim McGuinness, who was criticised for cancelling a round of club fixtures over Easter and then presided over a very poor display against Monaghan.

McElhinney denied that morale has been dented ahead of the Ulster championship quarter-final with Derry in three weeks’ time.

“At the end of every league campaign there are players who are dropped or leave the panel, but these players decided to leave and that’s the way it goes.”