Jim McGuinness’ questioned over ‘very strange’ All-Ireland final tactic by player he axed from Donegal panel

Donegal manager Jim McGuinness has come in for strong criticism in the wake of his side’s All-Ireland final defeat to Kerry

Jim McGuinness’s strategy for last weekend’s All-Ireland final has come under fire from former Donegal player Kevin Cassidy.

Kerry swept to a commanding 1-26 to 0-19 triumph over Donegal at Croke Park, with a detailed analysis of what went awry for McGuinness’ team continuing throughout recent days.

Pat Spillane has argued that McGuinness’ track record in major encounters “is not good”, whilst Cassidy has raised concerns about the tactics employed by the Donegal boss.

The Gaoth Dobhair man had proposed before the match that Donegal ought to assign two players to mark David Clifford or concentrate on Paudie Clifford or Sean O’Shea instead of employing zonal defending.

“Only Jim knows why he didn’t take that approach,” Cassidy, who was dropped from the Donegal squad by McGuinness in 2011 following a disagreement over an interview, told Gaelic Life.

“Paudie [Clifford] had 76 possessions, scored three points and I think he had his hand in at least eight more. Seán O’Shea also contributed heavily on the scoreboard, kicking some very important points.

“Obviously we are not privy to what goes on behind closed doors, but to not double-team David Clifford or go after the two lads mentioned seemed very strange.

“It would have been hard to do both but at the very least we should have gone after either David or the two boys, but we just stuck to our zonal marking.”