Donegal defender Eamon McGee admits that his intercounty career could easily have long since ended if it wasn't for Brian McIver's 'arm around the shoulder' approach.

The current Derry manager guided Donegal to a national league title in 2007 with McGee earning his medal but, as the men from the hills prepare to lock horns with their old boss, the Gweedore club man is full of admiration for the man who has inspired an Oak Leaf revolution of sorts.

"I have a lot of respect for Brian McIver on a personal level and as a football man," McGee explained.  "He has done a lot for me over the years.  He really stuck by me when a lot of other managers would have said 'get out of my sight'!

"He is a great thinker about the game.  I know he said that he'd never manage another county after us but that would have been a shame for the game of Gaelic football.  People that have the kind of love and passion for the game that he does, it's infectious, and the GAA needs those kind of people."

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