Aidan O’Rourke has stepped down as Donegal manager after their season ended with an eight-point loss to Tyrone in Ballybofey on Saturday night.
The 2002 Armagh All-Ireland winner came in as interim manager following the shock resignation of Paddy Carr before the end of Donegal’s League campaign having been part of Carr's backroom team.
The Tír Chonaill men were relegated from Division One with a series of off-field issues also plaguing Carr’s short tenure.
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Karl Lavey also stepped down as Donegal’s academy boss at the start of the year, prompting an independent review from Croke Park into the governance of Donegal GAA.
Amid the turmoil, O’Rourke and coach Paddy Bradley agreed to stay on after Carr to guide Donegal through their Championship campaign.
Their status as a Division One team at the start of the season all but guaranteed Donegal’s place in the group stage of the All-Ireland series and a minimum of four games.
Donegal suffered a 2-13 to 1-11 loss to Down in the Ulster SFC quarter-final in Newry and were being tipped by many to finish fourth in Group Four when the group stages got under way.
However, a battling win over Clare in Ennis hinted at a revival and, while they were soundly beaten by Derry in Ballybofey, Donegal were competitive for long periods against the Ulster champions.
Last weekend’s brilliant win over Monaghan in Omagh saw them finish second and gain home advantage for their preliminary quarter-final clash against Tyrone.
Yet, Donegal were never able to land a blow on the Red Hands and were chasing the game since Ruairi Canavan’s early goal and slipped to a 1-18 to 0-13 loss.
Speculation will now turn to who will take over from O’Rourke. Rory Kavanagh was widely expected to succeed Declan Bonner last autumn but withdrew from the race while Jim McGuinness is also likely to be touted for a return to the role.
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