Jim McGuinness says condensed season 'disrespecting' provincial championships

Jim McGuinness has spoken several times in recent weeks about his major misgivings in relation to the GAA's split season

Jim McGuinness says the condensed nature of the inter-county football season is disrespecting the provincial championships and must be altered.

McGuinness used Donegal's pre-championship media conference on Friday night to again state his unhappiness with the current split-season calendar.

"A couple of weeks will have to be found somewhere to give the provincial championships the respect that they deserve …..[and] to give the players the respect that they deserve," the Donegal boss told BBC Sport NI.

McGuinness acknowledged that his Donegal side are in a much better position than several other counties given the three-week gap between their Division Two League Final victory over Armagh and the Ulster SFC opener against Mickey Harte's three-in-a-row seeking Derry.

"We are one of the fortunate ones where we do get three weeks. A lot of other counties are out this weekend.

"It's a conversation that's going on across the country. I think the pendulum has swung too much in one direction. It will have to come back to the middle ground I feel."

'Championship used to be summer centrepiece'

Donegal have been hit by injuries to key players Patrick McBrearty and Ryan McHugh, and a number of other squad members.

McGuinness believes that expecting players to immediately "recover from games and then go hard again for the next game" is asking too much.

"I don't know who that serves. I don't think it serves anybody really. It doesn't serve managers, players or supporters. It's challenging for everybody. Soft pitches and such like.

"Definitely the pendulum does have to come back to the middle because ultimately the GAA football championship was the centrepiece of the summer and now it's not even played in the summer, most of it.

"So I think there will be important conversations to continue over the weeks and months."

Patrick McBrearty missed the Division Two League Final win over Armagh after hobbling off during Donegal's win over Meath a week earlier

Asked about the fitness of skipper McBrearty and his fellow Kilcar man McHugh, who both missed the Division Two League Final after being injured in the win over Meath a week earlier, McGuinness said that he didn't know whether they will be fit for the Celtic Park contest on 20 April.

"There are a number of others as well. There are probably six or seven that are in the same boat.

"You want to bring these decisions down to the last couple of days [before the game]. Some of them probably will make it. Some of them might."

Following the Meath game on 23 March, McGuinness described McBrearty's injury as "fairly significant" after the forward hobbled off in the first half but there has been no further detail on what precisely the ailment is.