Ireland's captain, Seamus Coleman, has admitted he's looking forward to seeing how Donegal's new senior football manager, Jim McGuinness, does in the role next year.
This week, it was announced that the 2012 All-Ireland winning manager, McGuinness, would return to the inter-county scene with Donegal ahead of the 2024 season.
McGuinness led Donegal to three Ulster titles and two All-Ireland finals during his tenure as manager. He left in 2014 to join Glasgow football club Celtic FC to work as a performance consultant. He has since left his role in Scotland and has since not worked in GAA since.
After recent turmoil in the Donegal hot seat, where Aidan O’Rourke and Paddy Carr both left the role this year, the position to become Donegal's new manager remained open, until now.
Speculation arose that McGuinness was set to return last week, and the speculation then became a reality. There is real buzz in Donegal about McGuinness' return to the county.
Coleman, who is also from Donegal, was asked at a Spar event what he made of the appointment of his fellow countyman, and responded by saying, "Everyone in Donegal is looking forward to seeing it, with what he has done for Donegal before.
"He took over a group that was really struggling at the time; he completely changed the mindset of the group, the team morale, and fitness. It was great for us for a few years in Donegal.
"It will be interesting for me to watch to see if he has picked up or learned anything from doing his pro license and things like that. Does he try to change anything? Is it two different games completely?"
The Ireland defender also believes that due to McGuinness's methods, a challenge for the Sam Maguire cup cannot be ruled out for the upcoming season.
"It'll be interesting to see his approach when he takes over, but we're all looking forward to it," he added.
"They've had a tough couple of years. You would be expecting miracles from him to come in and make them contenders straight away. He did that very quickly the first time around.
"I've met him a few times. He's got something about him, something different about him, in my opinion. I wouldn't write them off in terms of challenging straight away.
"He gets into the mindset of the players, and whatever he does, he motivates players beyond whatever they think they can get to themselves."
