McGuinness on...
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The Niall Moyna spat
"He called me a bully over that (asking Martin McElhinney to play a challenge with Donegal on the same day as DCU's O'Byrne Cup semi-final with Meath) -- for asking my player the question, 'If I don't see you, how am I supposed to play you?'
"It is categorically not the case (Moyna claimed McGuinness threatened to remove McElhinney from the squad if he didn't travel to Clones).
These things have been fired about the place about me and about Donegal all year. Perception is reality. Throw enough stuff out there and it's going to stick."
"I wouldn't close the door, but the bottom line is -- our rules were very well defined and what happened was so far over the line. Adrian Hanlon had to go last year for an incident. It was dealt with at the time and he's back in now. Eamonn McGee was another situation.
"It was extreme but the only regret I have is that about three weeks out from the game what we were getting through the middle (in this way) was very exciting at training.
"The only disappointing thing about it was that we didn't get enough of that over the course of the 70 minutes. If we continued to do that and done the job defensively and continued to be explosive and dynamic then we could have gone on to win that game easily.
"Why didn't it happen, I have my own conclusions. For some of them it was psychological. I think they regressed into themselves over the course of the game, the closer they got to the All-Ireland final, the more they just wanted to see it out instead of driving toward it."
"I think from the moment I stood up for Ryan Bradley there was a media witch-hunt for myself and for the team. Some of the things that were said about the team... they were called the Taliban at one stage, was extremely disrespectful.
"But there is a lot of crap going on. There are a lot of people who have an agenda and they're using the pen as power and trying to have a go consistently at us."
Irish Independent
