McGuinness respect for McGeeney undiminished after years of battle

Ulster Football Final - Armagh v Donegal

Venue: St Tiernach's Park, Clones Date: Sunday, 12 May Throw-in: 16:00 BST

Coverage: Watch on BBC Two NI & BBC iPlayer; live text commentary with in-game clips, report and highlights on the BBC Sport website

Jim McGuinness and Kieran McGeeney have crossed paths on the field and on the sideline for more that 30 years but while the occasional word may have been uttered in the heat of battle, the Donegal boss says his respect for the Mullaghbawn native has never wavered.

The duo's latest sideline joust will be in Sunday's Ulster Football Final at Clones as McGuinness 2.0 aims to deny McGeeney's Armagh the silverware they so crave.

Possibly the most memorable blow up between the duo came in the opening year of McGuinness' first Tir Chonaill reign in 2011 when some pre-match chatter in the media from then Kildare boss McGeeney in advance of their All-Ireland quarter-final about tactical fouling by Donegal forwards invoked the ire of the Glenties man.

"Kieran McGeeney was a phenomenal player. He didn't cry, he didn't whinge. We weren't very impressed by that as a group to read that. We're happy that the referee didn't take the bait," said a clearly irate McGuinness after a sensational point by Kevin Cassidy (remember him) had earned Donegal a dramatic extra-time victory over the Lilywhites.

"The place to do your business is on the coaching field. Do you business there, try and beat the opposition there......not in the media."

Nearly 13 years on during the Allianz Football League Division Two game at the Athletic Grounds in February, it was clear their respective competitive juices had in no way run dry as they kept a linesman busy with observations on a full-on contest which eventually ended in a draw.

But taking McGuinness' pronouncements about McGeeney in the round, such incidents only indicate the respect that has for a fellow warrior, who is the longest-serving inter-county manager having been appointed to the Armagh job in 2015.

Speaking at a media night organised for the Donegal press last Friday night after he along with McGeeney had skipped Ulster GAA's media afternoon earlier in the week, McGuinness was perhaps the one stirring the pot when he spoke of the Armagh boss putting together a physical squad in his own image.

Referring back to how Donegal were often out-muscled and out-worked by bigger, stronger and fitter Tyrone and Armagh teams during his own playing days, McGuinness said the following:

"It's unusual now to have that massive physical profile across a team but I would suggest this Armagh team is probably one of the biggest and most physical teams in the country.

"Maybe that’s down to the manager. The manager was one of the most physical players."

One can immediately visualise a smile forming on McGeeney's face on hearing those words following by a couple of quick observations.

But after throwing in his couple of jabs, McGuinness quickly moved into admiration mode as he spoke of the "massive amount" the Armagh manager has achieved in his sport.

"A lot of that comes from your own personal drive. That doesn’t disappear and go out the door.

"He’s bringing that to the table every night with those lads and obviously has created a very high profile backroom teams as well. Everybody with a specific job that are adding value."

The latter point was another interesting observation from McGuinness as he referred to a management team that includes Kieran Donaghy, Ciaran McKeever and latterly Conleith Gilligan.

In many respects, Armagh football has been central to McGuinness' football journey.

He says Joe Kernan and his Armagh management team in the early 2000 produced the template for conditioning and tactics which was soon followed by Tyrone before McGuinness appeared to take it to a whole new level during his first Donegal reign.

"They [Armagh] were more powerful than us and they had clearly had that nailed down from a process point of view.

"From a footballing point of view, we would always have had great faith and belief in ourselves. [But] Tactically, then they were ahead of the curve.

"When you start adding all those bubbles together, there’s a real strength of mindset which comes with that. You know that you’re in good shape. You know that there’s a plan and you know when you fit into that and that brings its own mental strength."

Intriguingly, McGuinness also says that Donegal's 2010 All-Ireland qualifier hammering by Armagh in Crossmaglen was central to him taking the county manager's post a couple of months later despite being turned down for the job on two previous occasions.

"That game was an important point in my own sort of decision making.

"Watching that game and been hungry to get involved and seeing something in them and believing in them. It’s kind of full circle again with both teams coming to meet each other again."

As for Sunday's contest, McGuinness doesn't buy into the suggestion that Armagh are under more pressure than Donegal as they aim to end a 16-year wait for an Ulster title after all their near-misses on the big stage over the past couple of seasons.

Those Armagh defeats included losing by a point to McGuinness' side in the Division Two League Final at Croke Park in late March, which came five weeks after the drawn contest at the Athletic Grounds.

"We’ve been in a lot of finals over the last 10 or 15 years but it’s been a while since we’ve won one now," maintained the Donegal manager.

"We want to do that and Armagh have been building that squad for a number of years now and they probably feel they are ready to go and win it. Even though we’re coming from slightly different places, it’s the exact same thing in both camps."

And the Donegal boss certainly doesn't agree with Armagh selector Ciaran McKeever's surely tongue-in-cheek comment prior to last year's Ulster Championship that the "real football doesn't begin" until the Super 16s.

"I spent my whole life trying to win an Ulster Championship. I was fortunate to do it on my first year [as player] and never won another one so I understand the gravity of this game and what it means for everybody, what it means for myself, the management, the players, the people of Donegal.

"I’m aware that the [Super 16s] draw has been made and I’ve seen the groups and I haven’t looked again a second time.

"It’s of no interest to be honest with you whether it’s Derry or Tyrone or anybody else in a group stage after this, it doesn’t matter.

"You are going into an All-Ireland competition. You are going to be coming up against good teams."

As of last Friday night, McGuinness said his team hadn't been practising penalties but given his attention to detail, it's difficult to imagine that hasn't been rectified this week.