Donegal manager Jim McGuinness has been left with more injury concerns ahead of Donegal's Division 2 final against Armagh next Sunday. Key cogs to his side Patrick McBreaty and Ryan McHugh hobbled off injured as his side swept Meath aside 1-18 to 1-10 at MacCumhaill Park in Ballybofey on Saturday night.
The game was effectively a dead rubber as Donegal had already clinched promotion.
McGuinness has admitted to Highland Radio that he “hasn’t experienced” the sheer volume of injuries he has had to deal with recently in his previous managerial experiences.
“The first thing for us is to get everyone on the pitch. I don’t believe we have seen the way we want to play fully yet,” McGuiness said to Donegal great Brendan Devenney after the game.
“I haven’t experienced this as a manager. The number of people coming into the season injured and, the number of people getting injured during preseason, and the number of injuries we have had during the league, so hopefully, that day will come very soon.
Still, there are a number of players who have been really important for Donegal over the last number of years that have All-Stars, and we need all of the rest of them back on the pitch in order to find our rhythm. We're asking fellas to do things. It’s a different full-back line today and a different midfield pairing another day, so really, all you're just doing is juggling.
'Great preparation for Derry'
The Glenties man remains positive and says that next weekend’s league decider in Croke Park will be great preparation ahead of playing three-in-a-row chasing Derry in their Ulster SFC quarterfinal next month.
"We want to create a team that plays a certain type of way consistently. We haven’t had that consistency yet, but the flip side of that and the positive is again, we kicked 1-18 tonight, but we still have a lot of things to work on,” McGuiness said.
“I think it's great preparation for Derry in terms of a contest, in terms of the opposition, and in terms of going to Croke Park. We do need to look at other players. There are players on the periphery who will be looking for game time, which we haven’t seen so far, and try to get some minutes into their legs with a view towards the summer .”
The Division 2 final will throw-in at 1.30pm and will be followed by Derry v Dublin.
