Donegal let best man for job slip away

RORY GALLAGHER will be a great loss to Donegal, even if his three years in charge failed to prolong the Jim McGuinness era. The fact that McGuinness left the team high and dry after the All-Ireland defeat by Kerry in 2014 meant Gallagher was left with the most difficult job in Gaelic football. He had a choice — he could have continued McGuinness’s brand of high octane defending and attacking, or he could look to replenish the squad with younger lads and seek to redefine Donegal as more of a good footballing team? Rory Gallagher (below) tried a bit of both, in the end, but after sickening defeats by Tyrone and Galway this summer, he came to the conclusion that there was nothing more he could do for the county. It will be Donegal’s loss. As stated on this page last week, this country is not filled with an infinite number of either brilliant or shrewd managers. It has a very big choice of gentlemen with the best of intentions (and very limited ability), but men on the sideline who have a touch of genius? Donegal waited a long time to see McGuinness, and only gave him the job at the second time of asking. Gallagher was as daring and as intuitive as McGuinness, but how many more excellent team bosses do Donegal think they have right beneath their nose? They can not afford to lose Gallagher and they should seek a rethink from him. There have been few men on the sidelines this decade as smart or as sensible. Right to the bitter end. This week, once rumours started bouncing off the walls about daft and ugly remarks on social media leading to his resignation, Gallagher was very quick to tell us that he has never offered Twitter half a second of his life. And as he left the dressingroom he has served so brilliantly, Rory Gallagher sought neither thank-yous nor sympathies. He’ll be missed. But he doesn’t need to be.