Update:
Rory Gallagher's father has since stated has he was not the victom of abuse from Donegal fans.
Hi Eamon,I wish to state categorically that I have never been victim of any verbal abuse from Donegal fans.
— Gerard Gallagher (@gaa1303) July 25, 2017
July 25th
With throw-in delayed owing to the extra-time played between Cork and Mayo, there was some concern that Galway/Donegal would finish in darkness should the game end as a draw, given that there are no floodlights in Markevicz Park. In the end, there was no such problem as Donegal showed that they have long since accepted the dying of the light.
Rory Gallagher's reign may now be teetering on the brink, given a meek surrender took on the features of an implosion: Donegal ended the game with 13 men and a 15-point defeat. It's a nightmare end to a very difficult championship for Gallagher and Donegal, that featured narrow wins over Longford and Meath after they were thoroughly disabused of notions of progress by Tyrone in Ulster: losing by nine points to a team who they had narrowly been edged out by in last year's Ulster final.
Gallagher has come in for fierce criticism, and along with legitimate criticism of Donegal's performances, he has had to endure some deeply unfair personal criticism too. Such vitriol was rife on social media in the aftermath of Saturday's game, and we won't reproduce any of it here.
Gallagher's father, Gerry, also faced some criticism in the stands on Saturday evening, as Brian McEniff reveals today to the Donegal Democrat.
Finally, I want to condemn out of hand the abuse suffered by Rory Gallagher’s father, Gerry, at the game on Saturday evening by a number of Donegal supporters.
I did not see the incident myself but I was made aware of it. If I had seen it I would have intervened because that type of behaviour is totally unacceptable and cannot be tolerated.
Gerry Gallagher is a decent man and in no way deserved the kind of abuse I’m told he received on Saturday. It must be condemned by us all and it must be stamped out.
Elsewhere, those expecting Jim McGuinness to dedicate his Irish Times column to a dissection of his former team's travails will be disappointed. It's terrific as per - and will be the only thing you will read today to mention Carlos Tevez, Karl Lacey, Obafemi Martins, and Kevin McStay within a couple of hundred words of each other - but his reference to Saturday's defeat in Sligo is brief:
If you look at Donegal, they have probably gone too far on the pace side of things. Pace is an incredible asset and they have that in abundance. But you have to be mindful of the pyhsical attributes of the team also. And they were probably exposed in that regard on Saturday night against Galway.
[Donegal Democrat; Irish Times]
