Brian McEniff has called on Donegal fans to be patient after the latest string of retirements in the Tir Chonaill County.

Rory Kavanagh, Christy Toye and David Walsh all called time on their inter-county careers this week - following the path of Colm McFadden and Eamon McGee at the end of last season - and with Odhrán MacNiallais and Leo McLoone also ruled out for 2017, manager Rory Gallagher will need time to blood some new players in the season ahead.

"People will need to be patient now. It's easy to take things for granted when a county is going well for a long time but nothing lasts forever," McEniff told the Irish Independent.

"Donegal is still very strong and will be into the future but you don't lose as many players of the calibre that we've lost without noticing it. Rory (Gallagher) has a big job on his hands and needs support from everyone. Most of all, people need to be patient. Change happens in every county - it's Donegal's turn now."

He added: "We've lost a lot of experience over a relatively short space of time, really top-class players who did it all. You can't replace that in a hurry. You'd know who was going to be in most of the positions for many years but it won't be like that now.

"There's a lot of fine young talent in Donegal and it will come through but there's no way of knowing how soon it will happen and how quickly they will make top senior players."

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