Legendary Donegal footballer Martin McHugh says that departed manager Rory Gallagher was ‘the best football brain I have ever met’ and hit out at the ‘scumbags’ who abused the Fermanagh man.
Gallagher resigned as Donegal boss on Monday evening prior to a meeting of the Donegal county committee.
Gallagher, who succeeded Jim McGuinness in 2014, stepped down from the role after three years in the hotseat.
“Rory Gallagher is the best football brain I have ever met and I’m disappointed to see him go,” McHugh, a close confidant of Gallagher, wrote in his column in today’s Irish Daily Star.
“I thought Rory did a brilliant job last year, considering all the players he lost. Nobody realises the level of coaching going into players.”
Gallagher last night issued a statement in which he denied that the social media pasting he had received since Donegal’s 15-point qualifier defeat to Galway had contributed to his decision to walk away from the role.
However, McHugh took a sideswipe at trolls who ridiculed Gallagher in the last week.
McHugh said: “As for the abuse he took on social media. It’s there and you just ignore it. People are waiting in the long grass, people with no challenges in life themselves, just pure scumbags, and they’ll be there waiting for the next man as well.
“It was disappointing that Gerry Gallagher had to go on Twitter to deny that he had been verbally abused at one of the qualifiers. That’s how low things had gotten.”
McHugh, who won an All-Ireland with Donegal in 1992, managed Cavan to an Ulster title in 1997. While the Kilcar man will be linked to the vacancy, it is not thought that he will put his hat into the ring.
McHugh added: “You have to give Rory credit for taking a poisoned chalice. The players put pressure on him to take the job and he stepped up, when it would have been easier to say ‘no’ and protect his own reputation.
“It won’t be until 18 months or two years down the road Donegal people realise what he achievement for the county.
“Our problem is not the senior boss, it’s that the work Jim and Rory did has glossed over the structures. Some of the players coming into the senior squad can’t kick the ball properly. You haven’t time to coach that at inter county level. The coaching structure is the big one Donegal have to get right.”
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