DONEGAL MANAGER Rory Gallagher says it is time for a ‘new generation’ to make its mark as he anticipates the ‘breakup’ of his old guard over the winter.
Already, Colm McFadden and Eamon McGee have confirmed their respective inter-county retirements and Rory Kavanagh has indicated that he is unlikely to feature again in the county jersey.
“There’ll be a few more who will be thinking like that,” Gallagher told Donegal Sport Hub last night.
“We’d expect a couple more and that’s natural.
“It’s the breakup of the team that has served Donegal so well. We introduced a number of new players for the League and some of them settled into the Championship team.”
Several more of Donegal’s veterans are considering their futures and Gallagher is already planning for next year.
Donegal missed out on an Ulster title this year after losing 0-13 to 0-11 to Tyrone and, despite a decent showing in the All-Ireland quarter-final, Gallagher’s side were beaten 1-15 to 1-10 by Dublin.
[adrotate group=”38″]Gallagher was last night in Ballybofey to give his annual review to club delegates at the monthly county committee meeting and the Fermanagh native was upbeat about what the future holds for Donegal.
He said: “The big one this year was the Championship. We felt that we left an Ulster final behind us. We had ourselves in a very strong position.
“It’s never good to lose players of the calibre that we have lost and are likely to lose, but it’s time for a new generation to come in.
[adrotate group=”81″]“They’ll need a wee bit of time to settle in.
“Over the next couple of the years, it’ll be interesting to see how they develop. They’ve been stars at their own age groups, but the challenge is if they can hold their own. I’d be confident that there’s a lot of talent there.”
Club delegates were said to have been positive towards Gallagher, who has another year of his three-year term to serve.
[adrotate group=”82″]Gallagher has been busy watching the action in the Donegal SFC in the last couple of weeks and the Donegal boss also gave his thoughts on the quarter-final pairings, which were made before county committee last night.
Listen to the full interview below …
https://soundcloud.com/donegalsporthub-club-notes/donegal-manager-rory-gallagher-talks-2016-and-club-championship
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