Jim McGuinness admits 2014 All-Ireland final loss haunted him for years

Irish Daily Mirror

a day ago

Jim McGuinness has revealed he thought about the 2014 All-Ireland final loss to Kerry every day until he resumed the role of Donegal boss last season.
As he prepares to lead Donegal into battle in an All-Ireland final for the third time and for a second time against the Kingdom, McGuinness opened up on the torment of losing a final.
During his first stint in charge of his native county, he won an All-Ireland crown in 2012 at the expense of Mayo.
Two years later, Donegal toppled Dublin in a seismic semi-final battle. Dublin's next Championship loss wouldn't come until their last four loss to Mayo in 2021.
However, Donegal fell short against Kerry in the final, with Kieran Donaghy ruthlessly punishing a rare error from a Paul Durcan restart to plunder a vital goal midway through the second half, and the Kingdom eventually winning by 2-9 to 0-12.
Speaking at Donegal's press night at Convoy last Tuesday, McGuinness was asked how long that defeat lingered.
'I would say until I got back involved, I would say there wasn't a day I didn't think about it,' said McGuinness.
'I can remember walking about the hotel after we lost in a daze. I didn't know what happened, didn't know where I was, didn't know what actually had gone wrong there and taking a step back from that and trying to work that out.
'It's very, very painful. You're in a banquet and there's 1,200 people and you don't want to see anybody. That's not a nice place to be.
'All of that factors into it but I think when you get back on the horse, then you're not thinking about the past, you're thinking about what you need to do.
'You're thinking about moving forward and we have moved forward and we've created this opportunity.
'If everything works well and everything goes to plan, the only thing that it guarantees you is to be competitive. That's the only thing that guarantees you.
'But if we're competitive in this All-Ireland, I'll be happy. I'll be really, really happy. That's all we're looking for is to go in, show our true colours and be competitive.' Donegal football manager Jim McGuinness after the All-Ireland semi-final
McGuinness is back for another crack at All-Ireland glory and so are Donegal.
Neil McGee and Colm McFadden started the 2014 final and are now in the management team, while Michael Murphy, Paddy McBrearty, Ryan McHugh remain from the playing squad.
McGuinness continued: 'Losing always sharpens the pencil. There's nothing better than winning an All-Ireland and there's nothing worse than losing it.
'It's probably the best day of your life and the worst day of your life, and that's the reality.
'I've been on both sides of the fence and I suppose trying to get that message across to the players is very, very important.
'But you have to live those moments as well and it's difficult.
'When you're 18 or 19 years of age and Anthony Molloy is telling you to make the most of this because it'll fly in, you're thinking, 'it won't really fly in, I'm in a good place here.'
'And all of a sudden you're retired and you haven't got the sense to take the information and use it maximally, if you like.
'So we'll be imparting that to the players, that it's a brilliant day but also there's a football game to be played. And if you don't win that game, it's tough. And nobody has the right to win any game, but I do think that if you go out and you give it everything you've got and you fall short, at least you've done that.
'I think where regret falls sometimes is if you're coming down the road in the bus and you feel there was a bit left in the tank, I think that's when it becomes really, really hard.
'We know what we're going in against in Kerry and we know they're just brilliant in these situations and they expect to win in these situations.
'Challenging that and battling that will be very, very difficult but we have to give it our best shot, to be fair, after the work that they've put in all year. If we get that, I think I'll be happy.'
McGuinness, who won two Sigerson Cup titles with Tralee IT in 1998 and '99, reiterated his view that Kerry are favourites to regain the Sam Maguire.
Jack O'Connor, in his third term, will take charge of Kerry for an eighth time in an All-Ireland final and is bidding for a fifth win as manager.
His counterpart stressed that Dublin and Kerry have an expectation of success every year.
Donegal are appearing in only their fourth ever All-Ireland final whereas Kerry are playing in their third final in four years.
'They (Kerry) know their way about Croke Park on All-Ireland final day better than anybody else, maybe with the exception of Dublin in the last decade or so, but they were probably contesting most of those finals with them anyway,' added McGuinness.
'So the challenge is huge. That's the biggest barrier that you have to overcome as a team that's around the periphery, if you like, and I would say ourselves would be in that bracket.
'Tyrone would be in that bracket. Armagh would be in that bracket. Good teams and good sides, but trying to make a breakthrough.
'We wake up on the 1st of January and you're hoping things will go well and you're hoping you can get momentum and build a team and build an energy.
'Kerry and Dublin wake up on the 1st of January and if they don't win the All-Ireland, they'll be disappointed. So that mindset is going to be difficult for our lads to overcome because that's what they're going to be facing as soon as the ball's thrown in.
'They're going to be facing fellas that have been there, done that, and know how to do that and they also have the knowledge and the experience and the tradition to back that up.
'So that's probably the first challenge we'll meet and some of that will be played out before the ball is even thrown in.'