'There was a drive in McGuinness, he wanted to be successful as a manager' - Boyle

Donegal legend Tony Boyle said the belief and confidence that his former teammate Jim McGuinness has instilled into the county senior team since his return to the managerial hotseat is the reason for Donegal’s good fortunes over such a short space of time. 

Speaking to Donegal Live, the 1992 All-Ireland winner says with all the magic that McGuinness has created with the county side in the past, he would not be surprised if the Glenties man has a few tricks up his sleeve this weekend when Donegal come face-to-face with the reigning league and Ulster champions Derry in Celtic Park.  

“It’s going to be a big ask facing probably the best team in the country at the minute, but you know what, all the pressure is going to be on Derry because nobody is giving Donegal much of a chance, and we all know that Jim is capable of having a few tricks up his sleeve, he’s shown that in the past,” said the Donegal and Dungloe legend. 

“I think the biggest immediate change this season since Jim has come back as manager is that there is a whole air of positivity. I don’t really know how he does it, but he just has this aura about him that makes people buy into what he’s saying every time. 

“I was fortunate to meet him a couple of times in Convoy since he’s come back into the role, and there’s just a great buzz around the team and around the GAA community.  

“It’s so easy to notice the positive vibes from the players and how happy they are to be involved with Jim, and considering how down in the dumps everything was last year, it’s just great that everything is back to the way it should be.” 

Speaking about the aura that McGuinness has, Boyle points out that he has known the All-Ireland winning manager since they first played together over 30 years ago and notices the transformation the Glenties man took from player to coaching maestro. 

“I’m just a couple of years older than Jim, and I don’t think in the early years I could say that Jim was going to be this legend that he’s gone on to be as a manager. Jim when he was young enjoyed the craic as much as the rest of us and was very much a free spirit,” the All-Ireland winning full-forward admitted. 

“But when Jim went back to college and started to study psychology and the sporting side of it, you could see there was a focus and drive in him that he wanted to be successful as a manager. 

“I remember when he was managing Naomh Conaill and I was managing Dungloe and we would be coming up against each other, I could see how much the players were buying into his ways and his beliefs, you could see he was going somewhere. 

“Now if you told me back then that he was going to win an All-Ireland, I probably wouldn’t have believed you, but he’s built up that reputation and experience that it doesn’t matter who you are, when Jim talks, everyone listens. He’s so well respected across the sporting landscape in Ireland and that’s why he’s so successful.” 

Analysing Donegal’s league campaign over the last few months, the former full-forward believes the management team hit a fine balance of seeking out new potential talent within the squad as well as focusing on the main goal of getting promoted back to Division 1. 

He highlights the Division 2 league final against Armagh as proof of such progress, where Donegal were forced to play without a number of starting players through injury. 

“I think Jim got the balance right in the league how he’s blooded in new players as well as achieving his target of getting promoted back to Division 1. He’s clearly shown how much faith he has in his entire panel and how he believes every one of them can go out and do the business on a given day and that they’re not just there to make up the numbers,” Boyle said. 

“That was shown against Armagh in the league final. We had five or six first-team players out, and for most managers that would be a serious worry, but Jim had total faith that the lads could go out and win the league and they proved him right. 

“Developing a team like that ultimately now creates greater competition at training, players are going to be pushing for places, standards are now raised, and there’s no place for complacency, so that all feeds into each other and shows the improvement that has been made by Jim and his panel.” 

In discussing last year’s season, Boyle puts the poor performances down to a lack of confidence but admits that the most important thing for Donegal to do was to bounce back stronger the following season and prove their doubters wrong. 

“Look I think the biggest thing Donegal lacked last year was confidence, but there was also about seven top players that weren’t available for Paddy Carr too, so it was going to be hard to get results, and then what followed was a really unfortunate blame game around the county,” Boyle highlights. 

“But look, I’ve been involved in Donegal GAA all my life and I’ve seen years like that in the past, the most important thing is how you bounce back and of course with Jim coming in that was going to lift the whole county and the only way from there was up.”