‘This wasn’t a fair one’: Donegal’s Jim McGuinness criticises choice of Dr Hyde Park as neutral venue against Mayo

Jim McGuinness has hit out at what he sees as unfair treatment of Donegal in having to go to Dr Hyde Park to play Mayo on Sunday. He believes his county has been singled out by the fixture-makers, with the game set for a venue that was so close and familiar to Mayo.

“We don’t believe we should have been here today either, being honest with you,” McGuinness told reporters after his side’s one-point victory, which sent Mayo out of the championship. “We think it was very unfair to bring us here. It was the equivalent of bringing Mayo to Omagh, and we also put in an email to the CCCC to say we couldn’t get a hotel in the area so we had to stay in Athlone. We had to go beyond the venue to come to play in the venue.

“So it was the equivalent of Mayo going to play us in Omagh and staying in Derry and I don’t believe that would happen. I think that would only happen because it’s us. Disappointed in that. We made a case and we made the case early. It was on deaf ears.”

When McGuinness was asked what he meant by “because it’s us”, he was unequivocal in his response. “Donegal, Donegal, Donegal.”

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He added: “We knew a month ago that it was going to be here and we also knew we couldn’t get accommodation and we also knew that it was going to be difficult for our supporters. We put that case forward and that didn’t happen. It happens for all the other teams so why does it not happen for us? Everybody else had a fair shake this weekend.

“If you look at the two counties and you look at the geographical position, then all the games were fair. This wasn’t a fair one. You’re 38 minutes from Mayo’s training ground. We’re three and a half hours from Inishowen. It’s not fair. If I don’t say it, who’s going to say it?

“You always seem to be the one that’s pointing fingers, but at the end of the day, my job – and it’s 100 per cent my job – it’s the players. The responsibility is to the players. When you’re travelling on a bus for three hours the day before a game, that takes it out of your legs. But anyway, we’ll move on. We’ll see what they say, which will probably be nothing, and we’ll move on.”