National Football Leagues 2026

This stuff is always hilarious,Youd swear by how you write he has managed us since 2012 and not got us to 2 AI finals since in 4 years(yes 4, not 14), a post width denying us one of them

Whether donegal will be there abouts come end of the season, time will tell. The squad depth is poor in terms of experience on the bench though 5/6 good young players coming through who will offer a lot going forward and gotten plenty of game time in the league

I love the narrative that some people like to build around Jim.

Since 2012 Jim has managed Donegal for four full seasons. They have reached two All Ireland Finals and a semi final. Donegal have reached a total of four All Ireland Finals, Jim has been manager for three and was a player in the squad for the other.

If you measure success solely on winning All Irelands most managers in the history of the game have been failures and the vast majority would love to have been as successful as Jim.

However there is much more to Jim that his impact on the field. His impact off the field, with his players and with his people, has been greater. Jim has suffered great tragedy in his personal life and with that comes a sense of perspective about football. When Jim stopped at the roadside in 2012 on his way home from Croke Park, where his brother had been killed dropping Jim to the airport, no words were necessary. Football is a distraction from real world problems.

Jim has changed the lives of players he has managed. He has brought two seriously underperforming groups of players and made the competitive at the highest level. When Paddy McBrearty lifted the Anglo Celt and looked down at Jim and said "I owe everything in my life to you" it tells you everything about the man. Not only has he made them better players, he has made them better people.

Donegal has long been a forgotten county, no rail service, high unemployment, low standard of living and high emigration. Jim has given Donegal people a pride in their identity and embraced the fact that things in Donegal are a little different.

Whether or not Donegal manage to want another All Ireland under Jim the man is a credit to his family and his people. It's the begrudgers I pity.

Because they've won so many all Ireland's.

What McGuiness did in 2012 was phenomenal.

The buy in he got from everyone, his willingness to ditch Cassidy who did not buy in, the drive, the fearless approach, the confidence etc

All while playing good football, they were a completely different team in 2012 than 2011.

He caught lightning in a bottle in 2012, I won't say he was lucky, instead he got everything right.

But he's failed to reproduce it.

He lost a final in 2014 against a good (all Kerry teams are good) but less than generational Kerry team.

And last year he was totally at sea in the final.

The narrative going into the game was that Jimmy could solve the Clifford problem, but Kerry made an absolute fool of him.

That's where his legacy is right now, with people outside Donegal at least.

And I can't see him solving it this year.

Superb post.

Unfortunately, the people it's aimed at will ignore it, because it doesn't suit their narrative.

Division 4 will be some fun next Sunday. All teams waterford with a chance of promotion. It will be some collapse by carlow if they lose again after winning their first 4 matches.

That's not his legacy. I'm not from Donegal, and I see him as an excellent manager. He has done so much good for Donegal. They were very mediocre before he took over for his recent management stint, and almost straight away he took them to All-Ireland final. That's incredible. People like yourself will try to muddy the waters by bringing in the final last year to try to demonstrate negativity. But the reality is that if JMcG wasn't the manager, they would be nowhere near the final. Dubs try to do the same by referring back to one match where David Clifford had one bad final and was marking Michael Fitzsimmons. "Fitzy had Clifford in his pocket all day" etc. etc. They were doing this to try to dilute the argument that Clifford is the best player currently playing. That kind of begrudgery is part and parcel of how things operate. But the reality is still that Jim McGuinnes has proven himself to be a top manager, and David Clifford has been the best player in the past 5 or 6 years.

I live and work in Dublin. Any time that the issue of who the best player of all time is, this particular point always comes up - that Clifford can't be the best ever because he doesn't produce in finals, that Mick Fitz had him in his pocket. These aren't just online ranters. These are guys that play GAA and have played. Obviously, it's a bit of auld banter and craic. I was just making the point that often a bit of begrudgery can fog one's senses - it was mainly in relation to the comments that Jim McGuinnes's legacy will always be one final that they did not win.

They are idiots then.

I know plenty of Dublin fans who denigrate Clifford and build up King Con and Dermo as bigger legends.

May sound cliche, but outside name checking the big name Dublin players, a lot of them are clueless across the broader game.

17 Kildare (Tailteann winners)

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13 Tyrone

14 Cavan

15 Down

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16 Westmeath

18 Offaly

19 Wexford

20 Clare

Current placings in the race for championship qualification. Down and Westmeath or Wexford will have to win Division 3 if Kildare are relegated.