McGuinness: Compromise on county v club is key

All season, the tension between club fixtures and the demands of intercounty squads has been a source of constant debate. It is, at heart, an administrative matter but the cut-and-dry policy within Donegal, where it was announced that all club championship matches would be held whenever the county side's involvement in the All-Ireland ended, drew most public comment.

The abbreviated version was that Jim McGuinness had effectively demanded the suspension of the club programme but as the Donegal manager clarified after the county team’s pre-All-Ireland open day last weekend, it was a suggestion that came from club delegates. But he is convinced that the idea has been instrumental in helping to facilitate Donegal’s progression to this year’s All-Ireland final.

“Without a shadow of a doubt,” he said after spending the morning in MacCumhaill Park along with the players, signing jerseys and meeting supporters who came from across the county. “And our clubs made the decision to postpone the club championship, not Jim McGuinness. I proposed two rounds of the championship early in the season – one at the end of April and one at the beginning of May. And the clubs said: ‘That’s too early, Jim, it’s not going to work . . . we propose putting it off.’ And that decision has brought us to the All-Ireland final.”

In the wake of last summer’s painful surrender of their Ulster and All-Ireland crowns, McGuinness referenced lack of preparation rather than fatigue as the key reason for the disappointment.

In 2011 and 2012, Donegal’s Ulster and All-Ireland campaigns were predicated on unbroken weeks of summer training. Last year, the players were committed to club duties for four of the eight week of their provincial schedule. It meant that the mood in the run-in to the Ulster final against Monaghan was, from McGuinness’s perspective, chaotic.

Negative dynamics

He recalled a specific training night which highlighted just how deeply the club schedule had hampered squad preparation. “We had picked up injuries the night previous. This was two weeks out from the Ulster final, or a week out, I’m not sure now . . . and half of our players had been knocked out of the club championship, heads were down, we had the injuries then that had to be dealt with.

“And then on top of that we had fisticuffs in the Michael’s/ Glenswilly [match], I think it might have been. And county players going toe-to-toe with each other. And that’s the same boys then that are going in to battle with each other two weeks later. So you’d all these negative dynamics . . . you’re managing a situation, not a team. The clubs have given us the opportunity to manage the team this year and prepare as best we can.”

Club title

It was McGuinness’s feat in guiding Naomh Conaill to a first ever Donegal senior football-title as player-manager that first put him on the radar as a coach of serious potential. Although his focus has shifted, he understands the importance of the club and is only too aware of the frustrations of trying to train a side for a championship scheduled around the county side.

When he was managing in Glenties, the first two rounds were played before the Ulster championship. “So you’re building up for championship training for, say, six to eight weeks. Then you play your game or you play your two games. Then there’s a three-month gap, where everything you built up is lost. Boys go away to America. Boys come back from America. And then you pick up the pieces again at the end of the summer, and you get into championship football then again. I don’t think that’s right.

“I’m not saying there’s a right or a wrong way here. I’m saying the whole thing needs to be looked at. The calendar needs to be looked at.”

Twelve months in a year doesn’t seem to work for Gaelic football but McGuinness is hopeful that at some solution can be find which gives all teams and coaches an idea of when their competitions might be held. “And then maybe you could shut the whole country down for a month, instead of people hiding around corners pretending there’s a training ban ... there is none.

“And everybody conning, and county treasurers rubbing their hands because they don’t have to pay out expenses! There are so many variables. Everyone is batting for their own angle. You need to look at the whole lot, and somebody has to compromise somewhere along the line.”