DONEGAL MANAGER Jim McGuinness yesterday fired a broadside at media critics of his team, describing some of the criticism as immoral and saying he felt that his standing by his players in public had precipitated a “witch hunt”.

Speaking at yesterday’s launch of the Allianz Football League, at which the sponsors’ CEO Brendan Murphy announced that Allianz had extended the partnership by a further three years to 2015, McGuinness, who led the county to last year’s Division Two title and the Ulster championship, was asked did he feel the criticism of his team’s ultra-defensive tactics, especially in the All-Ireland semi-final against Dublin last year, was extreme.

He attributed the criticism to an altercation he’d had with RTÉ over the award of the man-of-the-match accolade after Donegal’s championship win over Antrim.

Ryan Bradley received the accolade but it was stated later on the Sunday Game that the match had been so poor, no one should have received the award.

“I think from the moment I stood up for Ryan Bradley that there was a media witch-hunt for myself personally 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.

“These boys, a lot of them not in work, are training and training for the good of their county. I’m an unpaid volunteer, if I told you what I was getting for my expenses for the year you wouldn’t believe it. I’m getting nothing out of the game only the love of coaching the boys.

“At the end of the day it’s not that important. We don’t want to be going to war with people but there’s boundaries and there’s respect. There was always boundaries in the GAA but now it seems some people feel they can overstep those boundaries.

“A lot of the time it’s ex-players, who are making an awful lot of money on the back of people who are out of work and trying their best for their county in a voluntary capacity. Morally, I don’t think that’s correct.”

Having described the tactics deployed against Dublin as “extreme” McGuinness nonetheless said he didn’t regret the manner in which he had approached the match.

“The only regret I have is that, about three weeks out from the game, what we were getting through the middle was very exciting.

“We were playing Michael Murphy out the field and he was strong, he was powerful, Christy Toye was coming back to himself and we had Ryan Bradley – we had a lot of strong, big men with power and pace and we were practising the game plan, the ability to turn the ball, work it, hand it to them and then drive through and ask the question.

“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.

“I have my own conclusions in my head . For some of them it was psychological, for some of them . . . I think they regressed into themselves over the course of the game. The closer they got to the All-Ireland final, then the more they just wanted to see it out instead of driving towards it. That is a learning curve if that is the case. They can use that this year if they get into that position again.”

Speaking about the controversial dropping from the panel and team holiday of current All Star Kevin Cassidy for contravening team rules by co-operating with a book written about last year’s championship, McGuinness said that all players were aware of their obligations.

But the manager appeared to leave the door open for the player by referring to other players who had served out similar banishment and returned to the panel.

“Adrian Hanlon had to go last year for an incident and we talked about it, same as the other incident [Cassidy]. It was dealt with at the time and he’s back in now.”

Asked did this mean that Cassidy could return to the panel, McGuinness replied: “The same criteria apply. Eamonn McGee was another situation.

“I wouldn’t close the door, but the bottom line is, our rules and our parameters were very well defined and what happened was so far over the line in relation to our group . . . that’s all I can say on it. I’m not going to go any further on that. I said I wouldn’t speak about it and I’m not going to say any more about it. I’m not going to be drawn on it.”

He also spoke at length about the ongoing row with DCU over the availability of Donegal player Martin McElhinney the weekend before last and said that he favoured the Sigerson Cup being concluded before the end of November and the third-level institutions not being allowed compete in the pre-season provincial tournaments.

McGuinness also said that even within the current system counties should have access to players at weekends while the colleges had them during the week and reiterated his threat to reconsider Donegal’s entry into next year’s McKenna Cup.