With McGuinness back at the helm, Donegal dare to dream again

In a sport that’s now too amateur to be professional and yet too professional to be amateur, Jim McGuinness once spoke of a simple currency.

He was in his second season of what he termed as the ‘Olympic cycle’ - a four-year term in office between 2011 and 2014 - that saw Donegal win, in championship football, three Ulster titles, and the 2012 All-Ireland.

“I’m very aware and have always been very aware of what football means to the people of Donegal,” he said after the 2012 Ulster final win over Down. “I’ve said it all along, seeing smiles on people’s faces makes everything worthwhile.”

Declan Bonner added two provincial crowns in 2018 and 2019, with 2023 being Donegal’s annus horribilis. They haven’t played in an All-Ireland semi-final since the 3-14 to 0-17 in 2014, which was McGuinness’s last victory in charge.

Following the end of his fourth year back in 2014, there was a cutting rawness as the team bus pulled up at the Diamond in Donegal Town under the cloud of darkness on Monday night late that September.

A day beforehand, Donegal had, as the manager himself admitted, underperformed in the All-Ireland final and lost 2-9 to 0-12 to Kerry.

Michael Murphy, the team captain, was called to the stage as tears streamed down his face, embraced by Daniel O’Donnell – one of the county’s loyal supporters. Murphy’s teammates filed in. Those who wore the jersey are more than players. They are, as McGuinness insisted upon arrival, ambassadors for the county.

“It’s been just phenomenal to work with them and I just want everyone in Donegal tonight to acknowledge them and hopefully there’s a lot more to come from them as well,” McGuinness said from the stage, more than hinting at his departure.

Although the mood was sombre, there was a sense of enormous pride from the 6,000 supporters who stood in the rain under the crackling umbrellas; just as there was from the 3,000 who attended the beaten finalists’ banquet at the CityWest Hotel the night before. It had been a four-year rollercoaster and one that, in the years since, Donegal followers thought the likes of which they might never see again.

Before McGuinness took over, Donegal, in 2010, were lumped out of the championship in June in Crossmaglen by Armagh.
“God Almighty would not have success with that current Donegal team and no matter what way you look at it we do not have the players,” 1992 All-Ireland-winning captain Anthony Molloy said that week.

“Top of the agenda will be to get the team back playing for the jersey; getting pride in the jersey – hunger, good football and then getting them to enjoy playing the football and working hard for each other,” McGuinness said the night of his appointment in July 2010, at Jackson’s Hotel in Ballybofey.

McGuinness’s tangible achievements, in a county not accustomed to success, pen an incredible tale. It’s worth recalling that Brian McEniff’s five Ulsters – the first of which came in 1972 – and the All-Ireland 20 years later were the only pieces of silverware Donegal had ever lifted in championship football.

When McGuinness took the mantle ahead of the 2011 season, Donegal hadn’t won anything in the championship in 19 years and his more experienced players hadn’t won a match in the Ulster SFC in four calendar years. Confidence was low; expectations even lower.

Under McGuinness initially, Donegal, in four years, triumphed in 20 of his 24 championship matches – a winning percentage of 83.33. McGuinness oversaw victories over all of the established forces – Dublin, Kerry, Mayo, Cork, Armagh, Tyrone, Monaghan, Kildare, Derry, Cavan and Down, who, at the time, had 90 All-Irelands between them.

Of the four losses, McGuinness had struck the first blow to Kerry and Mayo, whilst gaining revenge against Monaghan and Dublin for previous defeats – the latter in the 2011 All-Ireland semi-final, which was perhaps the most unconventional game of football ever played, as Pat Gilroy’s side defeated a claustrophobic Donegal 0-8 to 0-6.

The 2014 win over Jim Gavin’s Dublin - his only loss in seven championship seasons - was perhaps the utopia moment, a tactical masterclass that showed the swiftness of development. It’s a day that will be forever punctuated in the memory of everyone in Donegal.

Their seniors – the same afternoon as their minors – had overcome Dublin in their respective All-Ireland semi-finals to set up two final clashes with Kerry. That’s the company McGuinness has taken Donegal to, rubbing shoulders with Kerry and Dublin – Gaelic football’s two most traditional forces.

Donegal people, as referendums tend to show, are known for their streak of devilment; unafraid to go against the grain. A geographical remoteness in Ireland’s poorest county has seen its folk need to be, in a way, indigenous. McGuinness encapsulates those traits and that’s what has endeared him to the people of Donegal. He was and is one of them, celebrating in their multiple victories and manning up after the sporadic defeats.

A simple evaluation tool of any manager suggests a given tenure has been successful if they leave things in a better way than how they found them. McGuinness metamorphosed Donegal back then, and now, in 2023, there was a sense of disillusionment with the fall of the academy, squabbles in the boardroom and stutters on the pitch.

County chairman and secretary, Fergus McGee and Declan Martin, teamed up with a selection committee of Molloy, Martin McHugh and Anthony Doogan and delivered their man. McGuinness was announced to return to the position of Donegal senior team manager in September.

In many ways, the current plight in ways resembles how it was in 2010 when McGuinness, then in his thirties, got the job. If nothing else now though, McGuinness, who is now in his fifties, will raise the interest levels of Donegal football - levels which had fallen so low, certain clubs didn’t even get an order for championship tickets this year.

People need to be realistic, as football has changed in the last nine years, but, with a wealth of coaching added to his portfolio, so too has McGuinness.

Maybe it won’t be too long before he sees some of those smiles on faces again. After all, it is the simplest currency of all.