Paul Durcan believes many of the senior players in the Donegal panel would have considered their futures if Jim McGuinness stepped down from his position as team manager of Donegal. 
Donegal’s defence of their All-Ireland and Ulster titles collapsed following a shock defeat to Monaghan in the Ulster decider and a heavy 16 point defeat to Mayo in the All-Ireland quarter final.
It was confirmed in September that McGuinness would remain in charge and that quelled speculation that he was considering calling it a day.
Durcan told The Score website that many players would have considered
“I think boys would have thought about it (their futures).
“The lads that are there are there because they like playing, they love playing for Donegal. But it is an incentive when the manager that you’ve won an All-Ireland with is staying on.
“Jim is a man that we have a lot of respect for. I think he’s a very good football brain and that’s something we’ve come to realise strongly over the last few years.
“It was a big part of our year to keep him there, it was extremely vital.”
The news that McGuinness was staying on was met with joy by Donegal supporters but the good feeling didn’t last long, following the shock news that his assistant manager Rory Gallagher and video analyst Maxi Curran were leaving their respective roles within the county set up.
It was the departure of Gallagher which really caused shockwaves across the country as he was seen as a vital component of the Donegal ‘machine’ who captured back to back Ulster titles and an All-Ireland title in 2012.
Durcan admitted that it was ‘hard’ to see Gallagher depart the management setup but he is not surprised to see the ex-Fermanagh player link up with Donegal U21 boss Maxi Curran.
“All the players have a lot of respect for Rory and it’s hard to see him go. He’s very good at what he does – an intelligent man – and he’ll be a big addition to Maxi (Curran) in the 21 setup and hopefully that goes well for them.
“Rory’s living in Donegal now and if you know Rory, he has such a love of the game.
“He wasn’t going to stay out of football for long so it didn’t surprise me at all.”