I couldn’t go back, I didn’t want to be around men who didn’t stand by me

CASSIDY REVEALS REASON BEHIND HIS 2012 DECISION

KEVIN CASSIDY has explained how he couldn’t return to the Donegal fold in 2012 after his teammates failed to back him.

Cassidy was axed from the panel in late 2011 after a high profile falling out with then manager Jim Mcguinness as a result of his contribution to the book ‘This Is Our Year’, with Mcguinness saying that the two-time All Star “broke the trust within the group”.

Attempts at reconciliation didn’t go anywhere and it meant Cassidy missed out on the 2012 All-ireland success.

The waters were muddied further by the fact that Cassidy continued to play club football with Donegal stalwarts Eamon and Neil Mcgee, though he explained how Gaoth Dobhair’s run to the Ulster club title in 2018 and the celebrations that followed helped heal those rifts.

“I played for 10/12 years, a lot of those lads I would have dug them out of holes a good few times,” said Cassidy, in a conversation with Kerry legend Tomas o Se broadcast through Benetti Menswear’s Instagram account.

“Definitely wouldn’t have let any of them down, would have been there, 100 per cent in their corner any time they needed and I think that’s why I couldn’t go back because I just felt that even though I knew Donegal were going to come close… it’s not somewhere I want to be because it’s not the kind of people that I want to surround myself with, if that makes sense.

“You have to see it from their side as well that… their tunnel vision in what they wanted to achieve and it was a routine and a structure and you were either in or you were out.

“But the question I had, would I have done the same? I don’t think I would have like, so that’s what I had to base it on.

“That was probably the worst thing about it. Obviously Eamon and Neil, that was the toughest thing because we were clubmates and they were in a tough situation and for a wee while there, it wasn’t that there was bad blood or anything, it was just kind of disappointment.

“Thankfully we got our chance to rectify that in a few of them late night videos!” he added, referencing the club’s odyssey two years ago.

However, while he doesn’t regret the decision, missing out on the opportunity to bring the Sam Maguire Cup back to Gaoth Dobhair cut deep.

“It’s hard to explain to people – obviously you’re a club man and you go off and play for the county, it’s a massive honour and achievement but for me every day I stepped out to play for Donegal, I was playing for Gaoth Dobhair, if you get me.

“I was representing Gaoth Dobhair on that team and we always spoke about, what would it be like bringing that cup back to your home parish, your own people?

“People who had maybe coached you all the way, helped you all the way to get to where you got to and to bring that home. That was the biggest thing that hurt me about the whole thing, not being able to bring it back here, 100 per cent.”

nice age. Those lads have had a good year behind them. Mcbrearty’s back from the States, he was coming into good shape again.” Cassidy heaped praise on Bonner for how he

has developed Donegal’s style of play after Jim Mcguinness and Rory Gallagher’s tenures.

“Let’s face it, it was a system and that was it. I think Declan Bonner realised that Dublin had you sussed, Kerry too.”