PATRICK McBrearty says Jim McGuinness returning to Donegal’s managerial hotseat has brought a sense of much-needed calm in the county and feels his soccer coaching in the interim years has already been of huge benefit to the squad.
McBrearty (30) was a teenager when he was part of the Donegal panel that won an All-Ireland under McGuinness in 2012.
The Glenties man left the Donegal post at the end of the 2014 season, having narrowly lost an All-Ireland decider to Kerry, before embarking on a quite unique coaching journey in soccer that saw him work in Glasgow, China, America and more locally in Derry City.
McGuinness is now back on home soil in the hope of transforming Donegal’s fortunes after the county experienced a tumultuous 2023 on and off the field.
McBrearty has already noticed how McGuinness has utilized the transferrable skills of soccer in the early throes of his second spell.
“I suppose when you’ve a man with UEFA coaching badges you can notice the difference,” said McBrearty, who played the full 70 minutes in Donegal’s McKenna Cup win over Armagh on Wednesday night.
“There’s a lot of information that you have to take in, but every day is a learning day, and every day we go to Convoy you have to be ready to take in information.
“I think the soccer experience has really helped him, but the training is as intensive as ever and I think the young lads there are really taking everything in and are loving every minute of it, and so are the older lads too. Everybody is loving going to training.”
Donegal endured a frustrating 2023, losing new manager Paddy Carr before the end of an already doomed Division One campaign, before backroom members Aidan O’Rourke and Paddy Bradley stepped into the breach in a fire-fighting capacity.
Away from the field, Donegal’s Academy was in constant turmoil, with its head coach Karl Lacey eventually walking away from the role when relations with county board officials foundered.
“When Jim was announced as manager you felt everything was going to be okay – and that was the feeling around the senior team and Convoy [Donegal’s training hub]. He’s just brought a bit of calmness to the whole county,” McBrearty said.
The Kilcar man is also delighted to see two of his former All-Ireland winning team-mates – Neil McGee and Colm McFadden – assisting McGuinness, as well as praising Luke Barrett’s canny contribution, a former vocational schools’ team-mate of McBrearty’s.
“Neil and Colm are two really, really good lads and Luke Barrett as well, who is the same age as me. He has a good coaching career ahead of him.
“It doesn’t have to be mad tactical stuff; it’s the arm around the shoulder. It could be Neil with Finbarr Roarty at corner-back or it might be Colm having a word with Senan Carr in attack – just different wee things.”