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Donegal manager Jim McGuinness admitted Michael Barnes’ red card had a “huge impact” as his side hammered Kerry to reach Round 2A of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.
Kerry’s dismissal of Barnes before the start of the second half proved a major turning point, following a heated brawl between the sides after the half-time hooter that left Donegal’s Ryan McHugh bleeding from the eye.
“Listen, it was a tough, tough game. Obviously, the bye had a big impact on the game and probably a big impact on the scoreboard,” McGuinness told BBC Sport NI.
“Without that it would have been a different game in the second half, but listen, from our own point of view, we’re happy with the way we played, happy with the first half.
“It will be a tough battle in the second half, no doubt, but we are happy with the result.”
There is clearly no love lost between the two counties as the recent fierce rivalry for the biggest prize. Kerry claimed last year’s All-Ireland title before Donegal achieved a measure of revenge in the Division One final in March.
Kerry felt that Donegal forward Michael Murphy was lucky to avoid a red card in that league decider for a high-fisted challenge on Kingdom defender Dylan Casey and the bad blood from that game spilled over on Saturday and the home side welcomed the All-Star forward to Killarney with a couple of scuffles before the ball was dropped.
“No, that’s the big one,” added McGuinness.
“It was going to be a very, very physical battle and the key thing for us was just to stand your ground and luckily the boys did that and got the win.”
The Tir Chonaill side are now potentially just one win away from returning to Croke Park for the last eight of the All-Ireland series.
“I think to get the win and put us in a position now where one more win could get us into the quarter-finals is what we were looking for,” said McGuinness, who is hoping for a second All-Ireland title as manager after masterminding Donegal’s 2012 victory in his first spell.
“It was a big part of coming here today. It was a game we wanted to win from that perspective, listen, we tried to embrace it.
“It now gives us another chance to win another game and hopefully we can do that now.
“At the end of the day, it’s very disappointing when you lose in Ulster. It was important we got back on the horse today and thankfully the boys did that.”
