‘Very unfair on us' – Raging Jim McGuinness hits out at GAA over scheduling of Donegal versus Mayo
DONEGAL dumped Mayo out of the Championship before furious boss Jim McGuinness blasted the GAA for fixing yesterday's clash for Dr Hyde Park.
Ciarán Moore's last-gasp winner
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McGuinness wasn't in a good mood post-match despite their dramatic win
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They'll have to play a preliminary quarter-final but will at least have home advantage
That means a home preliminary All-Ireland quarter-final, something McGuinness will be glad of after lashing out at being sent to the Roscommon venue.
He said: 'We don't believe we should have been here. We think it was very unfair to bring us here.
"It was the equivalent of bringing Mayo to Omagh and we also put in an email to the CCCC to say we couldn't get a hotel in the area so we had to stay in Athlone.
'We had to go beyond the venue to come to play in the venue. So it was the equivalent of Mayo going to play us in Omagh and staying in Derry — and I don't believe that would happen.
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'Disappointed in that. We made a case and we made the case early. It was on deaf ears.
'I don't like the fact that our supporters are always being taken advantage of. We had seven games up to this point.
'Nobody's played more games than us. Nobody. And yet and all, we had the longest trek and all those people have to find a way to do all that.
'Breffni was an option. I know that Clones was offered and that was rescinded. All you're looking for is fairness and the middle is fair.'
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McGuinness was happier about his side's result.
Donegal will now host one of Cork, Galway or Louth this weekend and he said: 'It is huge. We are delighted to be there.
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'Delighted to beat Mayo. They are a brilliant team, a physical team. They are so hard to beat, so hard to put away and we managed to do that.
'We must now take the positives and the areas we want to work on.
"We must bring that vigour that we brought to the game for whoever comes down the road to Donegal.
'The last day we played in Donegal against Tyrone we didn't show our true colours. From a Donegal point of view, we want our supporters to come in and the players to bring a big performance.'
Malachy O'Rourke's Tyrone sealed top spot in the group and an All-Ireland quarter-final place thanks to
The Breffni still go through in third ahead of Mayo on the head-to-head rule.
Monaghan finished top of Group 3 after seeing off Down 2-27 to 1-26 in Armagh, with the Mourne men advancing in second.
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Lousy game-management, too few scorers - what Mayo, Derry and the Rossies can teach the teams that remain
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Irish Independent
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GAA fixtures chief responds to Jim McGuinness' stinging criticism of Roscommon venue for Mayo v Donegal clash
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