Jim McGuinness: Only way is up for Donegal after manager's return, says Brendan Devenney
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McGuinness' brother-in-law Colm McFadden (left), who was part of the manager's 2012 team, will form part of the backroom set-up
Former Donegal forward Brendan Devenney believes Jim McGuinness' return to the county is a "good move for both parties" and that the "only way is up" after a difficult 2023 season.
McGuinness' return, 11 years after leading the county to a memorable All-Ireland triumph, was confirmed on Monday evening.
The Glenties man is tasked with restoring confidence in Donegal after a year in which they were relegated to Division Two before championship exits to Ulster rivals Down and Tyrone.
"For Jim, it was only a question if he wanted it, he would get it so he must be happy enough," Devenney, who played for Donegal for 11 years before retiring in 2009, told BBC Sport NI.
"Obviously he was following a soccer career there at Celtic and then going out to China and got a job at Charlotte, which was a big job to get.
"When he came back he was doing different bits and pieces of coaching, he'd been involved with Down this year and had offered to come in [to Donegal] when Karl Lacey and Rory Kavanagh were going to take the job."
With captain Michael Murphy having retired last year, Donegal endured a difficult 2023 with manager Paddy Carr and head coach Aidan O'Rourke unable to steer the county to safety in Division One.
Carr resigned after just five months in the role before Donegal's last Division One game, and while O'Rourke stepped in to lead the team for the championship, they were beaten by Down in the Ulster quarter-finals before falling to Tyrone in the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals in Ballybofey.
With Ulster rivals Tyrone and Derry having lifted major titles in recent seasons, Devenney believes McGuinness' main priority has to be to bridge the gap between themselves and the current leading forces in the province before they can target competing with the likes of Dublin and Kerry.
"Bridging the gap on the four or five teams around Donegal is job number one," added Devenney, who played alongside McGuinness for Donegal.
"Then it will be bridging the gap between Donegal and your Kerrys and Dublins. Whether that can happen in a season or not, it would be remarkable if it did, but that would certainly be the plan to get up to the scale of Derry, Galway, Tyrone."
McGuinness has assembled a formidable management team including 2012 All-Ireland winners Colm McFadden and Neil McGee, and Luke Barrett, who has managed the Donegal minors for the past four seasons.
Donegal's disappointing year came to an end with an eight-point defeat by Tyrone in Ballybofey
While hailed by many as a tactical genius during his first reign, McGuinness' counter-attacking system came under fire in some quarters by those wishing to see free-flowing attacking football.
However, Devenney - who believes McGuinness "changed the face of the GAA as we know it" - believes the second iteration of his Donegal team will bear similarities to what he oversaw a decade ago.
"People have complained when it's not done right and it can be very defensive, but I think when you face the bigger teams at Croke Park, you need two elements and Jim's going to be wary of that.
"But I think it will be about setting the defence out, that's where you have to start and improve your attack. So I think Donegal will be sitting deep and counter-attacking teams for going into Ulster, that's what most Ulster matches are like anyway."
'You can feel already that spirits have been lifted'
Speaking to BBC Sport NI, Armagh's 2002 All-Ireland winner Oisin McConville admitted he was a "little bit surprised" to see McGuinness back in the Donegal hotseat.
"I thought Jim had set out his stall and gone down the soccer route and he'd keep plugging away hoping that something would turn up, but maybe he feels that ship has sailed.
"Donegal need Jim McGuinness more than Jim McGuinness needs Donegal at this moment in time. Being a Donegal man, yes there is some pressure to come back in but it's some coup by Donegal considering the year they've had.
"You can feel already that spirits have been lifted and expectations are through the roof already."
On the tactical expectations of McGuinness' second coming, McConville added: "I'm wondering what nuance can he bring.
"Everyone now, more or less, is playing some form of that 2011 team [blanket defence] and I'm wondering would he attempt to flip that back on its head and go after teams a bit more higher up the pitch."