Donegal buzzing to have 'hero' McGuinness back

McColgan is enjoying training sessions under Jim McGuinness

Donegal's Caolan McColgan has explained how the county is buzzing to have Jim McGuinness back as manager.

"I was 10 when we won the All-Ireland," McColgan, now 21, recalled.

"He has been a hero growing up, my whole life. It's great, the buzz in the whole county is class. Everyone is chatting about it."

"Everyone wants to know what is going on."

McColgan is one of the younger members of the Donegal squad, but explained that McGuinness' return has been a boost even to much more experienced team-mates.

"Even the boys that had him before, they are even more buzzing now I would say than they were before," he continued.

"We just listen to whatever he tells us and are happy to go out and do it."

There were reports recently that McGuinness wants a fence to be built around Donegal's training ground in order to ensure privacy during the squad's training sessions.

When asked if that could be a sign of the meticulous lengths McGuinness goes to in planning, McColgan said: "I suppose so. He just wants everything done right and no stone left unturned."

He added: "It hasn't really impacted us [as players] at all. The first we heard about it was when it was up on Facebook. We are just concentrating on going out and training and getting the job done."

McColgan was speaking at the draw for this year's Dr McKenna Cup, in which Donegal have been drawn in a tough group with Tyrone and Armagh.

Looking ahead to the Ulster Championship, where Donegal will face Derry in a match that sees McGuinness go up against new Derry boss Mickey Harte, McColgan said his side are looking forward to the challenge.

"It's a nice draw, we were happy enough with it," he said.

"We have to beat anyone in front of us on the day, so we have to do it. They are all great players with the right man in front of them. We have the players to do it, I think, so we can hopefully push on."