‘We will decide what is right’ – McGuinness

Donegal bainisteoir Jim McGuinness says he doesn’t listen to ‘outside influences’ and his management team will decide what is best for the county team in 2026.

McGuinness led his team to a 1-20 to 0-20 win over Dublin on Saturday in the NFL.

It was Donegal’s first time at Croke Park since they lost the All-Ireland Final to Kerry last July.

The zonal defence employed that day was heavily criticised in the aftermath of Kerry’s triumph.

McGuinness was asked tonight if Donegal can win an All-Ireland playing with a zonal defence or if they will have to change.

The following was his response:

“We just played the last 25 minutes zonally.

“I don’t have an opinion. You guys are the ones that have opinions. We just do our work and that’s the bottom line.

“I don’t listen to anybody. I just coach the team.

“There’s loads of opinions out there and there’s loads of people saying loads of things, but at the end of the day, that doesn’t have any impact on my thinking whatsoever.

“I don’t listen to those people. Most of them have never coached at inter-county level. Most of them have never stood on a sideline. Most of them have never won anything as a coach.

“I only take counsel from people that have been there and done that.

“If it’s an All-Ireland winning manager or a top coach, I’ll listen to them and listen to what they have to say but I don’t listen to anyone outside of that because it doesn’t make sense.

“Otherwise they should be on the sideline competing against me.

“There’s a lot of noise and a lot of talk and we are going to do what we feel is right every single day and that won’t change.

“Just because ten people say that’s what happened and that’s the right thing – that doesn’t mean it’s going to change our mind the next time around.

“If we feel it’s the right thing to do, that’s what we will do and that will always be the case.

“You cannot have a situation where outside influences impact on your group.

He added: “That’s football and I learned that a long time ago.

“There are loads and loads of people with opinions and there’s loads of people that are having that opinion to have a go at you, there’s loads of people that have that opinion because that’s what they believe.

“All of that is in the mix, but at the end of the day, you know all that, and you don’t listen to it.

“You just get on with going to the pitch trying to coach the lads and trying to win football games.

“That’s not going to change in the summer and if you want to run with that or someone else does, run away with it, but it won’t impact on how we approach games. Definitely not.

“We played 11 games last year and nobody was complaining. We will decide what is right and we won’t be listen to anybody else.”