Latest news with #McGuinness
RTÉ News
a day ago
- Sport
- RTÉ News
'Stronger going forward' - Donegal team welcomed home
Donegal manager Jim McGuinness has described the hurt his side are experiencing after yesterday's All-Ireland final defeat to Kerry as a feeling they will use to "make themselves stronger going forward". Thousands of supporters packed the Pier Carpark in Donegal Town and braved torrential rainfall this evening to welcome home their heroes. Taking to the stage in front of his players, McGuinness said he wanted to recognise the efforts of the panel and his management team. He said: "There's a lot of hurt behind me. There's a lot of pain behind me. There's is no doubt about it that these fellas wanted to be standing up here today, and they wanted to have the Sam Maguire, and that's not here. There's nobody more disappointed than this group of players. "I really hope that this could be a moment that they can latch on to that will make them stronger, more resilient, and bring them to a point where they are in a better position than they were yesterday afternoon in terms of going into a big game and taking on a big team." The Donegal manager thanked his players for their "efforts, commitment and sacrifice" over the past 24 months since he began his second spell in the job. He also said that the future of Donegal football is "looking bright". "We're very disappointed more than anything for you people, particularly all these young children across the front here that are the future of Donegal football on the male and the female sides. "But there will be brighter days, the rain will stop and the sun will shine, and I know for a fact that Donegal will be back here someday with the Sam Maguire Cup," he said, addressing the crowd. He added: "I hope in my heart of hearts, that day is not too long away, and I hope that everybody on this stage will be part of that and enjoy that moment. "We have had a fantastic journey over the last two years, back-to-back Ulster Champions and they were really special to us when we got into Pettigo and Donegal Town. "And as I say, please God, we will be back here again to celebrate a big, big night together." Meanwhile, Donegal captain Patrick McBrearty thanked the supporters who turned out in their droves to welcome the team home despite the inclement weather. He said: "There was a massive crowd in Pettigo and obviously, there is a massive crowd here and this has given us a big, big boost so thanks very much. "On behalf of myself, from the player point-of-view, I want to thank the county board. I want to thank Jim and the backroom team for everything they have done. Everything we have demanded off them as players, we have got it. There was no stone left unturned. He also praised the efforts of his fellow players. "I just want to thank the lads behind me. They are an incredible group. They deserved an All-Ireland. To be honest, some of us are lucky to have one, but I have no doubt that there is a lot of lads on the stage here that will end up with an All-Ireland. "They need to get back on the horse now. They are a great group. They are role models. If you want to be like someone, be like these lads," McBrearty added, which was met with a massive cheer. The Chairperson of the Donegal County Board, Mary Coughlan also addressed the crowd and thanked McGuinness, his players and backroom team for the year they have given the county. She also thanked the work of her fellow county board members throughout the year. Those who braved the elements were also treated to an evening of entertainment by a number of local acts, including Darren Booth and folk group Onóir, while Daniel O'Donnell performed his song 'Home to Donegal'.
Irish Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Donegal have problems to solve but don't write them off yet
The scoreboard never lies. But sometimes it fails to tell the whole truth and nothing else but. And this was the situation after 56 minutes of Sunday's All-Ireland. On the giant screen above Hill 16, the bare details were outlined in big, bold print: Kerry 0-22, Donegal 0-18. There was no question over who had been the better team. The scoreboard doesn't lie, after all. READ MORE: Passionate Paudie Clifford fires back at Kerry's critics after All-Ireland final win READ MORE: David Clifford hailed as the 'greatest ever' as he wins second All-Ireland Football title But from time to time it does leave out details. And this was one. Across the previous 15 minutes, Donegal had outscored Kerry by eight points to three. Better again, they were just after thieving Shane Ryan's kick-out, the play transferred towards Paddy McBrearty, so often their hero, introduced here as a potential saviour. Except there was a problem. McBrearty is so long in the tooth that his debut came way back in 2011, during Jim McGuinness' first spell. Time, as has been proven repeatedly, always wins against an athlete. It affects the body, erodes pace, stops a footballer reproducing the things their younger self managed to effortlessly do. And that was the dilemma McBrearty was up against. As the ball edged towards the touchline, McBrearty had a choice. Bend low but risk allowing the ball creep over the sideline or kick it along the ground towards a colleague. He took the second option and chose wrong, losing possession and with it all the momentum Donegal had been carefully building over the previous 15 minutes. From the turnover, Sean O'Shea eventually scored a two-pointer. Donegal, meanwhile, scored just once more in the remaining 14 minutes, losing the endgame 1-4 to 0-1. It may not have seemed such a big deal at the time but in hindsight this was a seismic moment. And it led to the inevitable question after such a convincing defeat whether McBrearty and a few other Donegal players had taken too much physical pounding over the years. After all, Michael Murphy is about to turn 36. McBrearty, for his part, is only 31 but has just completed his 15th season as an inter-county player. Between this pair, and Ryan McHugh, there are 219 Championship appearances on their CVs. And it showed, McHugh forced off with an injury, Murphy pushing his body to extraordinary lengths to last the 70 minutes, McBrearty struggling in the 15 minutes he got on the park. What if this is it for all three players? What if they all go together over the winter? Or what if they stay but aren't able to reproduce the magic in 2026? Those are the questions that McGuinness will be thinking about on his long trip home today. From history's scrapbook, he'll know that sometimes a defeat becomes a stepping stone - Offaly in 1981, Cork in 1987/88 and The Rebels again in 2007/09. But unless you are Dublin or Kerry, winners of 70 All-Irelands between them, there are no guarantees or 'rite of passage' as McGuinness alluded to in advance of Sunday's final. For every Offaly story from 1982, there are tales of woe: Roscommon in '80, Galway in '83, and Tyrone in '86, Mayo countless times, Kildare in '98, Cork in '99, Down in 2010. Each county lost a final. On no occasion did it lead to something better which is something that often happens outside the Big Two. Teams emerge. Teams lose big games. Teams then disappear. Will this be the case for Donegal? Perhaps not because the evidence suggests Sunday was a blip rather than the start of a worrying trend. Following Sunday's 10-point defeat, it has been suggested that Donegal have a problem scoring goals. Yet only Kerry and Galway raised more green flags in this year's Championship. Then there is the accusation they don't have a marquee forward. And yet between them, Murphy, Conor O'Donnell and Oisin Langan scored nine points from play yesterday, Murphy finishing the season as the Championship's second highest scorer; O'Donnell and Langan as the summer's third and fourth top scorers from play. What if the younger two push on from here? What if Murphy hangs on? What if their messianic manager stays on? While he didn't have his best day on Sunday - failing to figure out that Paudie Clifford needed to be closed down - McGuinness has previously shown his capacity to recover from setbacks, the 2013 defeat to Mayo being way worse than Sunday's loss to Kerry. The following year they bounced back, defeated Dublin, made it an All-Ireland. This season too is an upgrade on last year - a fourth All-Ireland final coming on the back of a semi-final appearance in 2024. Continuing their upward trajectory will take nerve, not necessarily a change of manager but certainly change within the manager. Alex Ferguson constantly evolved, and frequently replaced his assistants. Bill Belichick was the same, likewise Brian Cody and Joe Schmidt. What McGuinness now needs is a fresh voice rather than a dissenting one, a person who can replicate the role Rory Gallagher provided in 2011 and 2012. Remember only one team in the country were better than them in 2025 and even if that was by a considerable margin, the reality remains that for Donegal to reach the top, evolution rather than revolution will get them there. Don't write them off just yet.
The 42
a day ago
- Sport
- The 42
Where to now for Donegal after a final where they were thoroughly outplayed and outthought?
WHEN THE KERRY engine was purring and all was going their way in the first half of the All-Ireland final, the RTÉ cameras could not resist lingering on Donegal manager Jim McGuinness on the touchline. He cut a haunted figure, pale and fidgeting. His hands went to his face and he rubbed his eyes as if to try to wake up from a nightmare. And then something that rarely is picked up by the cameras; McGuinness locked in panicked debate with selectors Colm McFadden and Neil McGee. They could see what was happening on the pitch but were powerless to do anything about it. There is no shame in that whatsoever. Kerry were staffed at the back with raw-boned aggressive defenders such as Jason Foley and Mike Breen. Going forward Brian Ó Beaglaoich and Gavin White were immense, White in particular, while they also had the cool heads of Paul Murphy, Sean O'Shea and Paudie Clifford to retain the ball around the middle. Up top, you have the greatest forward to play the game. The blend of talent and motivation – this was a Kerry team playing with more spite than is customary – was irresistible. In order to stop them, Donegal needed big performances and their strategy needed to be bang on. Both elements were completely off on the day. We will come back to that, but it's not too early to ask a few questions about where Donegal go from here. And you would have to start with the manager. When Jim McGuinness said, 'It'll be a fairly heavy post-mortem after this one,' in the post-match press briefing, he gave a clear indication that he will be there in 2026. Advertisement To these eyes, there is no doubt in that. If a position coaching soccer was available and suitable, he would be doing that. Jim McGuinness. Bryan Keane / INPHO Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO There are life choices too at play. This is a man who is building a new family home, for a large family, in rural Donegal. For a decade he was involved in gaining coaching qualifications and pursuing a career in soccer. It takes a lot of imagination to build a case that he has a future in that sport, given that his only time as a manager was a six-month spell in lower tier American soccer that ended through poor results. And being frank about it, slogging up and down the road on Friday nights in a team bus managing a League of Ireland team would be a step down. It's what happens next will be of the utmost intrigue. Can McGuinness dedicate himself to another couple of seasons with Donegal, with the threat of diminishing returns? If so, giving over another three or four years when success might not come as thick and fast, all the while maintaining certain standards would be of some service to Donegal. If he does continue, there will be many nights spent with the sketchpad, rustling up ideas to break out of the tactical inflexibility that helped Kerry along. 'Kerry came hard they came hard early. They set the terms of the game. Then you're trying to manage that and you're trying to claw your way back in,' he said afterwards. 'We tried to respond to that, but at the end of the day, they were still keeping the scoreboard ticking over. Very quickly, you're in a fight. Whereas we wanted to be in a position where we were going to control the game, they were going to control the game, we were going to pick them off, they were going to pick us off.' The zonal defence was the big ticket item that the Football Review Committee wanted to abolish. Let's not lose sight of the fact this is Kerry we are talking about here, but they have shown that if you resist the temptation to hand the ball over, then you're on the right track. Who would be reporting for the start of pre-season? Michael Murphy has earned the right to retire on his own terms. He had a brilliant season, one of his best, but he suffered in this final. Missing a handy free and allowing Joe O'Connor to turn over a careless handpass to Ryan McHugh was completely uncharacteristic. Kerry repeatedly targeted him by dropping their kickouts down on top of him. But when he struggled then, his own personal cause wasn't helped when Shaun Patton was doing the same. Tyrone's win in Ballybofey was also built on the same foundations. Will Patrick McBrearty wish to come back for another season of bit-part roles? And Ryan McHugh, who has recently become a father? Patrick McBrearty. Bryan Keane / INPHO Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO What happens if all leave? As well as being McGuinness' eyes and ears in the dressing room, it would create a huge leadership vacuum. There are many baffling moments from the All-Ireland final. Some looked to be the result of completely overthinking. Donegal are renowned for the amount of time they spend in hotels, on weekend training camps and residentials. Even before the season, they spent a week at a training camp in Abu Dhabi. Anyone that has been to Abu Dhabi couldn't fail to notice the serious human rights abuses, the suppression of dissent and their abuse of migrant workers. At the time, The 42 was the only media source to report on this. Some others followed, but surely there must be a sizeable number of people in and around Donegal GAA that are uncomfortable with the choice of venue. Either way, all this time away has to be filled. A report coming out of the camp in their pre All-Ireland final camp at the Slieve Russell, Ballyconnell, where they trained at the grounds of the Kildallan clubs, was that they never wanted to see another PowerPoint presentation again. Perhaps that led to them operating on Donegal time before the match. They were late coming over to be greeted by Irish President Michael D Higgins. They had to be asked twice by stadium announcer Jerry Grogan to come and join the parade. And even before the parade rounded towards Hill 16 – surely one of the most evocative sights of Gaelic Games culture – they had broken and headed off down the pitch for yet another physical primer. All of this just looked silly though when Kerry observed all the faff that goes with the official stuff, completed a full lap behind the Artane Band, and then blew Donegal off the pitch in the first quarter. But the one that will haunt Donegal was not the decision to leave Paudie Clifford unmarked, but to refuse to alter that approach and remain locked in to a zonal defence system. Related Reads A day of days for Kerry as they complete the Ulster clean sweep Here's The Sunday Game's Football Team of the Year for 2025 'I was inside here a month ago and there steam coming out of my ears' - Jack O'Connor 'Allowing their best ball player to be unmarked, is crazy,' said RTÉ analyst Lee Keegan at half-time. For Donegal's defence to work, it depends on the opposition feeling pressure to attack and bring the ball into positions where Donegal can turn you over and go from there. Kerry felt absolutely no pressure here, because they had the finishers, the composure to hold onto the ball, and the nerve. The difficulty for Donegal now is the blood in the water. ***** Check out the latest episode of The42′s GAA Weekly podcast here
Glasgow Times
a day ago
- Glasgow Times
Bigoted Lanarkshire businessman attacked pregnant woman
Jonathan Murphy, 35, put a pillow over the woman's face and then choked her in 2017. Murphy also hurled sectarian abuse towards the woman - who was from Northern Ireland - and called her a "tarrier f***." Murphy was further violent and abusive to three other woman including his current business partner. The pair run Electricaire Ltd - an electrical contractor and wholesale firm based in Bellshill, Lanarkshire. During one attack, she believed Murphy was going to kill her and fled to a neighbour's home in her bare feet. Murphy pleaded guilty today at Glasgow Sheriff Court to two charges of assault. READ NEXT: Rapist behind bars after police approach 5 victims to snare serial abuser READ NEXT: Graphic CCTV shows killer stab man to death after they appear to 'embrace' He also admitted engaging in a course of conduct which was abusive of a partner ex-partner. Murphy further pleaded guilty to two charges of theft and a single charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner. The charges span between March 2014 and December 2023 at properties in Glasgow as well as Johnstone and Paisley, Renfrewshire. The court heard that Murphy and the woman were in an on-off relationship between March 2016 and August 2023. Murphy was initially verbally abusive towards her which included slurs about her weight. Prosecutor Danielle McGuinness added: "(She) is from Northern Ireland and would refer to her as a tarrier f*** and that he was up to his knees in Fenian blood." Murphy was first violent in September 2016 when he grabbed her by the wrists and twisted it. In February 2017, She was four months pregnant when she confronted Murphy about a man he knew urinating in their hall. Miss McGuinness said: "Murphy threw her on a bed and put a pillow over her face. "He thereafter placed both his hands around her neck and compressed. "(She) struggled to breathe and was wheezing, gasping for breath as she tried to get Murphy off of her." The victim was left with bruising on the side of her neck as a result of the attack. Murphy was in a relationship with another woman, 46, between March 2021 and September 2023. His violence towards her included throwing her across a kitchen which caused her to suffer a fractured wrist. In another incident, Murphy returned home late from a night out and shouted about money. Murphy threw her down a landing and later grabbed her by the hair to throw her around a room. Miss McGuinness added: "(She) was terrified and thought Murphy was going to kill her." Murphy tailed her to a garage where she hid behind a car before she fled to her neighbour's home in her bare feet and t-shirt. Her neighbour noted that she had a lump on her head and marks on her arm. A third woman who was in a relationship with Murphy between June 2012 and September 2015 had her bank card stolen by him. She noted £1,000 had been taken to purchase a room at a hotel in Loch Lomond. Murphy had attended a hotel with another woman while invited to a wedding and used the cash from the room as well as drinks. Another woman initially had £1,246 taken from her account by then partner Murphy to pay his daughter's nursery fees. She later noticed £3,130 was spent on her account which Murphy admitted to. The hearing was told that Murphy's father paid the woman £9,000 to pay money back which was taken. Murphy also slapped the woman during sexual intercourse when she tried to give him a love bite. Miss McGuinness added: "Murphy admitted that he did this as he was seeing another woman and didn't want to be marked when he saw her." Murphy was further violent towards her in February 2020 when he claimed someone was chasing drug money from him, The woman refused to give Murphy cash before he grabbed her by the neck and threw her onto a couch. He then made off with her bank card which was hidden from him in a couch cushion. Tony Graham KC, defending, will make his plea in mitigation at September's sentencing. Sheriff Matthew Jackson KC called for background reports and granted Murphy bail meantime. The sheriff told him: "You must be under no illusion to what might happen when you come back. "This was an extremely serious set of circumstances involving four victims."
RTÉ News
2 days ago
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Jim McGuinness: We were pushing a boulder up a hill for large parts of the game
In the decade between his first and second stints as Donegal manager, Jim McGuinness claimed there was barely a day when the 2014 All-Ireland final defeat didn't flash across his mind. This time around, he's urging a different response on his players. "I said to the players in the dressing room, it's not a game you should think about for a long time," McGuinness told RTÉ Sport afterwards. "We didn't deserve to win the game. That's the reality of it. "We didn't do enough to win the game. You have to let it slide. Sometimes you just have to let performances slide. And this is one of them." Afterwards, the Donegal manager was unsurprisingly resistant to the idea of conducting an in-depth post-mortem in public. The question of how the Ulster champions under-performed on the big stage will linger for a while though. They certainly seemed to be rocked by the force and intensity of Kerry's quick opening to the game, alongside the hammer-blow of David Clifford's succession of two-pointers. Many of the strengths that characterised the side in previous games - their ability to mind the ball and avoid turnovers and their capacity for gathering breaking ball in midfield - deserted them in the first half in particular. It was only their decent scoring efficiency that kept them in touch in an opening 35 minutes where they struggled to get their hands on ball. "We didn't perform, Kerry did perform, that's the bottom line. They started very early in the game and they got a foothold in the game. "I thought we responded quite well in the first half on our attack. We were good, we were clinical, but I think they might have scored in the first six attacks, so we were struggling to deal with them in that period. They went for a lot of twos and they hit a lot of them as well and that was big. "David Clifford coming on to those balls on a loop. We did a lot of work on him and we did a lot of work in terms of managing him. I thought Brendan (McCole) did actually quite well on him for periods, but obviously it does take more than one person to try and close down David and he kicked some brilliant twos. "Was it six or seven scorers we had? I think we've have 12 in the last two games. Why did we not get the same traction in terms of threats all over the pitch and different people popping up at different times? That's all things that probably come into the mix. "Kerry had a very aggressive press on. We were trying to do the same. They won a lot of breaking ball. We would pride ourselves on that aspect of it. They won a huge amount of breaking ball. Gavin White, in particular, won a huge amount of breaking ball. Every possession was crucial. "Getting the hands on the ball from our own kick-out was crucial. Both kick-outs and turnovers, that's what shapes attacks. We didn't get enough." One moment which McGuinness did cite - and one which clearly annoyed him on the sideline - occurred late in the first half, when Donegal had brought the game back to a five-point margin after points from Conor and Shane O'Donnell. Daire Ó Baoill sought to float a ball into Michael Murphy at full-forward but it was mis-directed and the Glenswilly player wasn't even in a position to contest it. Kerry came away and nursed possession themsevles until the hooter, the Cliffords combining for a two-point score to push the lead out to seven again as the teams raced down the tunnel. "We did things that we don't normally do," says McGuinness. "We made decisions that we don't normally do and we had just too many turnovers, that's the bottom line. "We had too many turnovers and some of them were clutch moments. We were chasing our tails, a couple of moments before half-time. A five-point game and then we lose possession, we give possession away and then it ends up a seven-point game. That was a tough one to take. "Had we been able to work that and got a score, we would have probably ended up going in at four down at half-time. I think it might have been a very different dressing-room at that stage, very different dynamic in terms of going out for the second half." After 2014, McGuinness spoke of the flatness he sensed among the squad on the day of the final. He detected none of that this time around, insisting that the mood was good and relaxed on the weekend of the game. Rather it was just a case that "Kerry came hard and they came hard early. "They set the terms of the game. Then you're trying to manage that and you're trying to claw your way back in. We tried to respond to that, but at the end of the day, they were still keeping the scoreboard ticking over. "We were pushing a boulder up a hill for large parts of it." Among those who fancied Donegal to win, McGuinness's reputation as a managerial savant was a significant factor. However, Donegal's defence struggled to cope with the range of options in Kerry's attack, with Paudie Clifford given relatively free reign. "I suppose no more than the Cork hurlers. It'll be a fairly heavy post-mortem after this one. "We'll go in, we'll think about the game, we'll reflect on the game. You try to get as many things right as you can. "Sometimes you just have to take your hat off and say, the better team won and we made too many mistakes to win the game. Just make peace with that. Over the coming weeks, those types of conversations will probably start."
