Rory Gallagher will keep testing Donegal’s number 1 options

THE DONEGAL MANAGER, Rory Gallagher, remains keen to examine his goalkeeping options, with ten weeks to go until they begin their Ulster SFC campaign.

Mark Anthony McGinley made his Donegal senior debut in Saturday’s Allianz Football League loss against Dublin at Croke Park.

The St Michael’s man, who has played League of Ireland soccer with UCD, was third choice last year, behind Paul Durcan and Michael Boyle.

Just minutes before his planned debut against Down in the Dr McKenna Cup in January, McGinley sustained a quad injury that kept him sidelined until last weekend.

Dungloe’s Danny Rodgers, the Donegal Under-21 goalkeeper, played the Dr McKenna Cup games against Down and St Mary’s College before Peter Boyle came in from the cold for the final McKenna Cup game against Fermanagh in Brewster Park.

That was his first Donegal senior appearance in three years. He’d been the Under-21 ‘keeper for the march to the All-Ireland final in 2010 and he featured six times for the seniors under Jim McGuinness.

Boyle stayed in possession of the number 1 shirt for the opening four Allianz Football League games this year before McGinley was given his chance to stake a claim in Dublin.

“Mark Anthony served his time last year and we felt that he deserved a go,” Gallagher said.

“He was going to start in the McKenna Cup and we were going to give him two games there.

“He was unlucky to be injured and missed out. He didn’t have a lot of training under his belt, but we put him in kind of cold and he came through it well.

“Going to Croke Park to play Dublin, the All-Ireland champions, isn’t easy at any time, but we felt that Mark Anthony did well.”

McGinley is expected to keep his spot this weekend, when Donegal take on Monaghan in Castleblayney, although Gallagher has hinted that he could rotate in the next couple of weeks if Donegal advance to the latter stages of the League.

Gallagher said: “One thing that should be clear is that Peter Boyle wasn’t ‘dropped’. Peter hasn’t done anything wrong, but the goalkeeper’s position is up for grabs and we want to have a good look at everyone.

“Peter did very well in the five games he played. More than anything, with Paul not being there, we wanted to look at two or three goalkeepers and we’d have had Michael Boyle in there, too, had he been fit.”

Michael Boyle is recovering from a cruciate injury and while he remains on course to be fit for the summer, Gallagher is anxious to have a plan B in place in the event that the Termon man doesn’t make it for Donegal’s June 12 Championship opener against Antrim or Fermanagh.

While Gallagher has confirmed that he will again speak to the now Qatar-based Paul Durcan about a possible return to the senior panel, that scenario now appears an unlikely one given the manager’s urgency to test the various candidates vying to succeed the double All-Star.