DONEGAL midfielder Martin Mcelhinney has said that the side will not lose focus on their May 25 Ulster SFC quarter-final clash with Derry, despite news that a number of players, including Mark McHugh (right), have left the county panel.
In total, four players - McHugh, gary McFadden, Thomas McKinley and antoin McFadden - have left the team, with McHugh said to be contemplating a move to america to play club football this summer.
The news broke after allstar McHugh, a member of the 2012 all-Ireland-winning side, did not line out for county training on Tuesday night.
Speaking at the official launch of the Championship in Belfast's MaC Theatre last night, Mcelhinney said he was aware of the departures and wished his former team-mates well.
"a number of the boys have left, it is probably that they have other commitments," he said.
"The way inter-county football has gone, there are serious commitments in playing for your county team so you'd have to wish the boys good luck and there are no hard feelings or bad terms, they just decided to pull the plug themselves.
"I was chatting to lads from antrim and Down and for them it is 20 minutes to get to training.
"Personally, it could be an hour or an hour-and-a-half to get to training.
"It is a big commitment, but the sacrifices are worth it."
County PRO ed Byrne said that despite the departures, there was no hint of ill-feeling in the Tir Chonaill dressing room.
"They were out in Portugal a week ago and there was no bust up in the camp," he said.
"We are as shocked as anybody else if players have left the panel but I would categorically state that there is no bust-up within the camp."
Mr Byrne added that he hoped to issue a statement clarifying matters as soon as possible.
The news comes just days after Jim Mcguinness's side missed out on capturing the Division Two title following defeat to provincial rivals Monaghan.
Despite this, and with just over three weeks remaining to the county's Championship clash with Derry at Celtic Park, Mcelhinney said that the remainder of the panel will not get bogged down with league disappointment or player departures.
"It was disappointing not to get a result against Monaghan at Croke Park and finish off a good league campaign with a title," he said.
"But, at the end of the day, the Championship is what you want to win and we have Derry in four weeks time, so now we will just put the defeat behind us and concentrate on Derry.
"We started into training in January and February with the focus of the Derry game, that is the main focus.
"We changed our focus straight away after the Monaghan game and we had a good session on Tuesday night - we're not thinking about it anymore." now working with a depleted squad, it is unclear whether Jim Mcguinness will have an opportunity to run his eye over new call-ups in game scenarios.
"I'm not sure if we have any challenge games to be honest, we don't play that many," Mcelhinney said.
"We just concentrate on our gameplan and keep our heads down at training every Tuesday and Thursday night, trying to keep thinking on the things we are working on.
"We're just hoping to make a few tweaks ahead of the game in Celtic Park."